NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LEADERSHIP: WILL APC REVERSE POSITION ON ZONING?

Oyegun

The contests for the Senate Presidency and that of the Speaker of the House Representatives seem to be tearing the All Progressives Congress (APC) apart since the party took the decision not to zone the positions. Will the crisis compel the party to reverse its decision?

With just a few days to the inauguration of the National Assembly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to be in a fix over the contest for leadership positions in the National Assembly.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who was looked upon to provide direction has made matters more complex by saying he is not going to be involved in deciding who becomes either the Senate President or Speaker of the House.
Buhari said he is willing to work with any leader of the Senate, irrespective of what part of the country the person comes from. “I am prepared to work with any leader that the House or Senate selects. It doesn’t matter who the person is or where he or she is from. There is due process for the selection of leaders of the National Assembly and I will not interfere in that process. Nigeria has indeed entered a new dispensation. My administration does not intend to repeat the same mistakes made by previous governments,” he had said.
Speaking on the same matter, a leader of the APC and former governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, said every qualified person can contest for the National Assembly leadership positions.
 “If we zone, others will follow suit. They will say the Senate President is from a particular zone, the deputy must come from there. So, we must get it right from the beginning and choose right. We don’t talk about zoning in our party, and we have never talked about it. Although it was raised, we rejected it. Zoning is one of the cultures of PDP and we don’t know if it is not one of the factors that brought it down,” Akande said.
Some however disagree with the position of the party saying it contradicts its earlier stance.
Chairman of the party’s National Convention Committee, Senator Chris Ngige, had confirmed the development saying  the APC had zoned positions in its National Working committee through a ‘gentleman agreement’.
But many have pointed out that the APC had zoned positions in the NWC  and in the National Assembly according to geo-political zones before the zones did their own arrangements according to states within the zone.
Our correspondent recalled that the National Caucus meeting of the party, which took place at the Sokoto State Governors Lodge in 2014, ratified the zoning arrangement, in which the South-south zone was given the national chairmanship position while the post of national secretary was zoned to the North-east; deputy national chairman to the South-west; national treasurer to the North-west and national publicity secretary to the North-central zones respectively.
Apart from the national chairmanship position, the South-south zone was also given the deputy national secretary and the deputy national legal adviser positions.
The arrangement saw the South-west producing the national legal adviser and national financial secretary in addition to the deputy national chairman, while the South-east,  apart from producing the national organising secretary, produced the national auditor,  deputy financial Secretary and deputy women leader.
At the meeting, the APC leadership indicated that the Senate presidency was zoned to the North-east, while the North-central would produce the deputy Senate president and deputy leader of the House of Representatives.
In addition to producing the Senate President, the arrangement conceded the position of party national secretary and chairman, Board of Trustees to the North-east.
The South-west, according to the proposal, in addition to the position of vice president, will produce the Speaker, House of Representatives and Deputy Senate Leader, with the North-west which already has the president to produce the Senate Leader, deputy House speaker and whip. 
The South-south zone, according to the proposal, will in addition to the national chairmanship produce the house whip and the deputy Senate whip.
The arrangement reportedly produced by the caucus also reserved the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Secretary of the Board of Trustees (BoT) to the South-east making it the only zone without a principal officer in the incoming National Assembly.
This arrangement reportedly did not go down well with some prominent leaders of the legacy parties that made the APC, especially of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), leading to the unofficial jettisoning of the proposal which has led to the current situation where the party seems to be in a fix. 
As it is now, the race for the Senate presidency after the initial brouhaha has zeroed down to two individuals as some of the contestants have either stepped down or have accepted to gun for other positions.
Senators Ahmed Lawan from Yobe and Bukola Saraki from Kwara are currently the top contenders.
Senator George Akume, who is one of those that stepped down, told reporters in Abuja that the APC before now had adopted a zoning arrangement which favoured the emergence of the president of the 8th Senate from the North-central zone.
But party leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu toeing the lines of Buhari and Akande, told newsmen in Abuja that zoning will not be used to compromise the quality of leadership for the National Assembly and that the party had decided to allow  those interested in the leadership of the federal parliament to contest.
But Akume insists that zoning is part and parcel of the politics of Nigeria, arguing that President Goodluck Jonathan became the President of Nigeria as a result of zoning.
APC senators were divided into two camps at a retreat held for senators-elect in Abuja for the party’s lawmakers.
A group of senators under the auspices of the ‘Like Mind Senators’ endorsed Senator Bukola Saraki as their preferred candidate for Senate Presidency, and rejected the endorsement of Senator Ahmad Lawan by the ‘Senate Unity Forum’.
The Like Mind Senators, led by senator-elect Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi) addressed a press conference one hour after the Senate Unity Forum announced the adoption of Lawan and Senator George Akume as Senate president and deputy Senate president respectively.
Flanked by 24 senators, including Senator Saraki, Melaye displayed a document bearing the signatures of 35 APC senators who, he said, had endorsed Saraki for Senate president.
“Of the 59 senators of the APC, 35 of us present here today hereby reaffirm our collective commitment and resolution to ensure the candidature of Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the Senate President of the 8th Assembly,” the resolution read in part.
The ‘Like Mind Senators’ also disclosed that they had zoned the office of the deputy Senate president to the North-east but did not reveal who its preferred candidate for the post is.
Senator-elect Melaye said contrary to reports, the APC National Working Committee had zoned the Senate presidency to the North-central zone. 
Also speaking, senator-elect from Adamawa State, Binta Masi Garba said: “We didn’t just come out on our own. Senators of ‘Like Minds’ are determined to deliver Saraki as Senate President.”
Before Saraki’s supporters’ address, Senator George Akume had on Friday dropped his ambition in favour of Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe State. Senator Akume, who is the minority leader of the Senate, has agreed to run on the same ticket with Lawan as deputy Senate president.
Senators under the banner of Senate Unity Forum led by Senator Barnabas Gemade announced the formation of the new alliance during the Senate retreat.
Senator Gemade who led other senators to present Lawan and Akume at a press conference said the Senate Unity Forum had adopted the duo to run on a joint ticket.
“We, the Senate Unity Forum, comprising of senators-elect from various states and zones of Nigeria, have met, held extensive discussions and resolved to support Senator Ahmad Lawan as Senate President and Senator George Akume as Deputy Senate President of the 8th Senate,” Gemade said.
On his part, Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa from Zamfara State said the Lawan-Akume ticket is the change that is needed in the Senate.
A public commentator, Zacheus Adebayo, said the discordant tunes in the APC over the National Assembly leadership positions especially the Senate Presidency shows the party leaders are playing the ostrich.
He said the APC is inheriting a highly fragmented country flowing from 2015 general elections and that it needs to show some sense of sacrifice to be able to weld the whole country together, warning that with 59 Senators (minus late Senator Zanna) against PDP’s 49, the APC cannot just do what it likes with the Senate because it does not enjoy the kind of majority PDP used to enjoy.
With the recent development, the race for the Senate presidency is now between Lawan and Saraki and this development is also expected to shape the process and outcome of the House speakership contest when the 8th Assembly will be inaugurated on June 9, 2015.