Senate Presidency/Speakership: N'Assembly May Re-enact 'Tambuwal Syndrome' …

As the race for the office of the Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives gathers momentum while the zoning of the National Assembly political offices remained unresolved by the All Progressive Congress (APC), there are indications that the National Assembly may re-enact the what is now known as the ‘ Tambuwal Syndrome’ in the election of its presiding officers.

It could be recalled that following the inability of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to acceptably resolve the zoning debacle over the choice of Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2011, a chunk of the members of the party aligned with the opposition to elect a speaker from the zone other than that which the party had zoned the office to, a development that led to the emergence of Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as speaker.

PDP had zoned the speakership to the Southwest with an eye on Hon. Mulikat Adeola Akande from Oyo State as speaker. But elected PDP House members in alliance with the members elected on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) backed Tambuwal who enjoyed support from an overwhelming majority of members.

APC has since it won majority of the seats in both chambers of the National Assembly been unable to arrive at a generally acceptable zoning formula for the sharing of legislative offices among the geopolitical zones, with each of the four of the six zones

parading formidable candidates. While the Northeast and North Central are angling for the Senate Presidency, the Southwest, Northeast and Northwest are bidding for the Speakership.

Penultimate week, the National Working Committee of the party was reported to have zoned the senate presidency and the speaker’s slot to the Northcentral and Southwest respectively, but the disquiet that the reported zoning caused within the party forced its leadership to go back to the drawing board on how to resolve the issue.

There are however speculations that the party may have opted to zone the Senate Presidency and the speaker’s slot to Northeast and Southwest respectively. Though there are other contenders, Senators Ahmad Lawan from Northeast and Bukola Saraki from Northcentral are the top contenders for the senate presidency, while Honourables Femi Gbajabiamila from Southwest, Yakubu Dogara from Northeast, and Abdulmumuni Jubrin from Northwest are the top contenders for the House speakership.

While Saraki is said to enjoy the support of several of his colleagues, Senator Lawan is believed to enjoy the support of APC national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who had hitherto supported the Senate minority leader, Senator George Akume, for the office of the Senate President.

Former governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, and twelve other APC senators from the Northeast had last Thursday addressed a press conference rejecting Senator Lawan as a consensus candidate for the Senate presidency from the zone and rejected imposition of any candidate as senate president.

THISDAY gathered that chieftains of the party from the Northcentral held a meeting yesterday where they renewed their call on the leadership of APC to zone the Senate Presidency to Northcentral since the senators from the zone have rejected the proposed anointed candidate for the senate presidency.

The view of the chieftains of the party from the Northcentral zone as expressed at the meeting was that in view of the rising profile of Hon. Dogara in the speakership race, it would be a political misstep for the leadership of APC to insist on zoning the office of the senate presidency to the Northeast, a development that could make a mockery of the party’s zoning formula.

Chieftains of the Northcentral zone were also said to have noted at their meeting the huge followership enjoyed by Dogara, particularly what happened during the induction course for the members of the House of Representatives, where over 100 members of the PDP House members–elect were said to have pledged their support to his aspiration.

The source said: “What is standing between Dogara and assuming the office of the speaker of the House of Representatives is just time. It is clear that history is about to repeat itself as was in the case when Hon. Tambuwal rejected PDP zoning formula to emerge as the speaker of the House of Representatives.”

“We are speaking from the point of history and what will happen to the followers and those that declared support for Dogara as speaker. It would amount to being fool hardy for the national leadership of APC to insist that the senate presidency should remain in the Northeast.

“There are four zones that delivered the APC in the just concluded presidential election and general election. The Northwest, Northeast, the Southwest and the North central. And so far, two of the zones have been accommodated, that is the Northwest and Southwest with the President and Vice President, while the two other zones of Northeast and Northcentral are still struggling for the Senate Presidency and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“With continued support of Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives by APC House members –elect, coupled with an almost overwhelming support of the PDP members –elect, it is necessary for the APC to avoid a costly political mistake where the Northeast would become the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives,” the source said.