What APC should do to avoid 2015 N/ Assembly leadership scenario — Rep Ibrahim
What would you say about the likely composition of the 9th House? So far so good, APC has about 211 members, while PDP has about 111, and other parties all together have 14 members. There are still inconclusive elections. But at the end of the day, I believe APC will still maintain a comfortable majority. So, for the composition, we’re expecting that each political party will maintain its leadership positions.
Rep. Babangida Ibrahim, representing Malumfashi/Kafur Federal Constituency of Katsina State, is the chairman of the House Committee on Finance. Though from same state with President Muhammadu, he is aspiring for speakership of the House of Reps. In this interview, he bared his mind on what the APC should do on the leadership of the National Assembly. Excerpt:
You’re one of those contesting for speaker, what makes you think you’re right for the job?
I had been elected twice before - this is the third time. I have all it takes, and the experience and the followership. I know the rules of the House is that we should elect leaders among us. That’s what inspired me to also come out to contest for the position of speaker.
But you’re from the same state with the president-elect, how do you reconcile that with your ambition to be speaker?
That’s not a law. During this 8th Assembly, one of the candidates presented for speaker was from the Southwest. The Northwest and the Southwest have a joint ticket and produced the president and the vice president. If somebody from the Southwest could contest speaker, I believe I can also contest from the Northwest, because there’s not much difference between the president and the vice president. So, I can contest like any other member.
The party’s position is yet to be out. We’re still waiting for the party on the zoning arrangement. Whatever it is, we’re loyal members of the party, and we’re going to adhere to the zoning arrangement of the party. When you look at the present arrangement, the vice president is from the Southwest, the deputy speaker is from there as well as the house leader. So, I don’t see anything wrong there.
What if the zoning arrangement doesn’t favour some of you?
What’s important is that no single person leads the assembly. It is usually led by a group of leaders, and there’s no leader that has more privilege than the other. The question is discussing what will move Nigeria forward. I believe there’s no single zone that will be excluded from the leadership. So, we’re waiting for the party, and we’ll work with what the party says.
What do you think the party should do to avoid the 2015 scenario when some of you went against the party?
Nobody went against the wishes of the party. The first mistake made in the 8th Assembly was the zoning they did with names. Zoning is usually done without names of individuals. But the mistake the party made then was that they zoned with names. That was what caused the problem. But I believe the party has learnt its lessons, and this time around there won’t be anything like that. We believe they’ll zone it without the names.
Another thing I expect the party to do is to recognise the independence of the parliament; though they can advise their members, but they have to study very well, monitor and see those that are likely to protect the interest of the party and Nigeria as a whole among those contesting.
It also must know the people with right followership, because the implication is that by the time you impose somebody on members; the National Assembly is not about who presides over the House but about chamber management.
If at the end of the day you put a presiding officer that cannot manage the House, then it will continue in crisis. And whatever the party or the government wants to achieve, it will have challenges in doing so. We pray the party will study very well and do the right zoning.
If you look at APC as a party, it has three major zones - the Northwest, the Southwest and the Northeast. These are the zones where APC has substantial control. So, whatever zoning they’re going to do, the emphasis should be on these three zones. They should look at which of the zones has substantial followership, where we have many members. I expect the party to look at the contribution of every member to its success.
Do you foresee the 2015 scenario repeating itself?
Well, very unlikely, in the sense that once the right thing is done by the party, without any sentiment, I believe we have more than enough numbers to make sure the scenario doesn’t happen.
What do you think will be your priority should you emerge?
My priority will be to restore the integrity of the House, because the perception of Nigerians about the parliament is completely negative. That’s why every action of the parliament is viewed with suspicion. We also must address our budgetary processes. What we’re doing is more of fund allocation. But we must address the major issues. In doing so, we must ensure effective oversight. We also must ensure that budget implementation is done across board, not selectively.