• Buhari: Lawmakers have spoken
• We won’t recognise them, says APC
• How party lost out
Weeks of horse trading and intrigues in the race for the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly ended yesterday with Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara defeating the consensus candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the Senate president, Senator Ahmed Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, respectively. While Saraki was elected unopposed as Senate president, Dogara trounced Gbajabiamila by 182 votes to 174 to emerge as speaker.` The APC National Working Committee (NWC) had, in a shadow election among its members in the National Assembly, adopted Lawan and Gbajabiamila as its consensus candidates for Senate presidency and House speakership respectively.
The emergence of Saraki was heralded by drama as while some aggrieved APC senators with support from their colleagues from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were electing him, Lawan and other senators elected on the platform of the governing party were at another venue in Abuja for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. With their absence, Saraki was elected unopposed by 57 out of the 108 senators. However, Buhari did not turn up for the meeting with the APC senators and party chiefs as he dropped the idea having learnt that the Senate had begun sitting and was about electing its leaders. Saraki’s victory, which shocked many watchers of the events that preceded the election, was facilitated by his last-minute adoption by the PDP, which traded off their support to gain the position of the Deputy Senate President.
Based on the bargain, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu West) who was the Senate Deputy President in the last dispensation retained his opposition after defeating APC’s Senator Ali Ndume by 54 votes to 20. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, had in a three-paragraph statement in the early hours of yesterday, announced the decision of the party to adopt Saraki and Dogara as the party’s choices for the Senate presidency and House speakership respectively. PDP has 48 members in the Senate and about 150 members in the House.
Earlier before Saraki’s election, the Clerk of National Assembly (CNA), Mr. Abubakar Salisu Maikasuwa, had read Buhari’s proclamation to signal the takeoff of the Eighth National Assembly. Thereafter, the CNA directed the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Adedotun Durojaiye, to take the roll call of senators-elect present in the chamber. This was done and Durojaiye confirmed that there were 57 members to participate in the election. Having satisfied that the quorum of one-third of the membership of the Senate as required by the 1999 Constitution had been met, Maikasuwa called for nomination.
The quorum of the 109-member Senate is 37.Saraki was nominated by a former Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima, representing Zamfara West and Senator Dino Melaye, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, seconded the nomination. Maikasuwa called on Saraki to either accept or decline the nomination. Saraki immediately affirmed his nomination after which the clerk also called for another nomination but nobody made responded. With no other nomination for the Senate presidency, Maikasuwa announced Saraki as the newly-elected Senate president.
The CNA also administered oath of office on him not only to make Saraki the Senate president, but also the Chairman of the National Assembly.Ekweremadu’s nomination for the Deputy Senate presidency was moved by Senator George Sekibo and seconded by Olaka Nwogu (PDP, Rivers West). Ndume (APC, Borno South) was also nominated for the same position. At the end of the voting, Maikasuwa accorded Saraki’s predecessor, Senator David Mark, special recognition by singling him out to personally administer the oath of office on him.
The rest of the senators were sworn in by Durojaiye. In his inaugural speech, Saraki said his administration would work hard to protect the independence of the legislature in the interest of the democracy and the citizenry. He, however, cautioned that the quest to assert the independence of the parliament must be carefully handled in such a way that it must not lead the legislature pursuing adverse relations with other arms of government. He said the Senate under his leadership would carry out its constitutional responsibilities, anchored on the principles of accountability, equity and fairness. According to him, the change, which the people of Nigeria voted for in the 2015 general elections, is a change that will take people away from a life of poverty and misery to a life of prosperity, happiness, security comfort, accountability and respect for democracy.
He expressed excitement that irrespective of differences in political party affiliations and other diversities in the polity, the senators were able to unite and vote as one family for public interest and advancement of the nation’s democracy. He also saluted Buhari for remaining steadfast in his defence of the right of the National Assembly to choose its own leaders, which he said had laid a solid foundation for the stability of the new National Assembly. While still smarting from the loss of its candidate for the Senate presidency, the APC also suffered another defeat in the House with the emergence of Dogara. Dogara represents Bogoro/ Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State on APC platform while Gbajabiamila represents Surulere Federal Constituency of Lagos State.
Maikasuwa administered the oath of office on the new speaker, whose emergence followed the pattern of his predecessor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal in 2011. Tambuwal, then of the PDP, had defeated the party’s consensus candidate, Hon. Mulikat Akande- Adeola, with the help of renegade lawmakers from the then ruling party who were assisted by their colleagues from the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the legacy parties of APC. Dogara was nominated by Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin (APC, Kano), while Hon. Chike John Okafor (APC, Imo) seconded his nomination. In the case of Gbajabiamila, Hon. Mohammed Sani Abdul (APC, Bauchi) nominated him and his nomination was seconded by Hon. Philip Shuaibu (APC, Edo).
Also, Hon. Yusuf Suleiman Lasun (APC, Osun) was also elected as deputy speaker having thrashed Hon. Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno) by 203 to 153 votes. Lasun represents Osogbo/ Olorunda / Orolu / Irepodun Federal Constituency of Osun State and was first elected to the House in 2011. Lasun was nominated by Hon. Babangida Ibrahim Mahuta (APC, Katsina) and this was seconded by Hon. Mark Terseer Gbilah (APC, Benue) while Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano) nominated Monguno and his nomination was seconded by Hon. Ayo Omidiran (APC, Osun). In his acceptance speech, Dogara said: “What has been demonstrated here today, is the resolve of members of the House to assert the independence of the legislature as a coequal arm of government.” He said his election was a sign that the legislature had come of age. “By electing me as speaker, you have demonstrated to the world that our legislature is living up to the dreams and aspirations of our founding fathers.
“You are leaving a legacy of an accountable, autonomous, focused, progressive and united House capable of playing its role as the stabilising force in our polity. We have shown once again that this is a House of the Nigerian people,” he stated. He hailed Buhari for his exemplary leadership in providing a level playing field that enabled Lasun and him to emerge as speaker and deputy. He thanked Gbajabiamila for his sportsmanship and promised to reach out to his opponent to run a united House. He promised to collaborate with the executive to fight corruption and insecurity in the country.
Reacting to the developments in the National Assembly, Buhari expressed his readiness to work with the new leadership of the legislature. A statement yesterday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the president, Mr. Femi Adesina, quoted Buhari as saying that although he has noted the interest of the APC in the just-concluded elections, he did not have a preferred candidate. “The president would rather that the process of electing the leaders as initiated and concluded by the APC had been followed. Nonetheless the president took the view that a constitutional process has somewhat occurred. “President Buhari had said in an earlier statement that he did not have any preferred candidate for the Senate and the House of Representatives, and that he was willing to work with whoever the lawmakers elected,” he said. According to the president, he believes in and still stands on his earlier position not to interfere with the outcome of election and emergence of the National Assembly leadership.
The statement added that the stability of constitutional order and overall interest of the common man were uppermost on the president’s mind, as far as the National Assembly elections were concerned. The president called on all the elected representatives to focus on the enormous task of bringing enduring positive change to the lives of Nigerians. But the APC described as totally unacceptable and the highest level of indiscipline and treachery the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as Senate president and House speaker.
A statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: ”Senator Bukola and Hon. Dogara are not the candidates of the APC and a majority of its National Assembly members-elect for the positions of Senate president and House speaker. The party duly met and conducted a straw poll and clear candidates emerged for the posts of Senate president, deputy Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives, supported by a majority of all senators-elect and members- elect of the House of Representatives.
All National Assembly memberselect who emerged on the platform of the party are bound by that decision. ”The party is supreme and its interest is superior to that of its individual members; consequently, the APC leadership is meeting in a bid to reestablish discipline in the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration.”
But the PDP urged the APC to stop whining over the outcome of the National Assembly leadership elections and accept the decision of the legislators. Metuh in a statement also called on APC leaders to respect the independence of the legislature. According to the party, what happened in the National Assembly is a result of “the naivety and crass inexperience” of APC. It described the development in both chambers of the National Assembly as “victory for democracy and triumph of the timehonoured value of the PDP that every zone and segment of the country must at all times be given a sense of belonging in governance.”
The PDP said it would continue to partner like minds in other political parties and groups to ensure the sustenance of the nation’s democracy, which it nurtured in the last 16 years. PDP congratulated Saraki, Ekweremadu and Dogara, noting that their elections underscore the fact that no section of the country should be neglected on national issues. Earlier, Metuh had taunted a former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, on the outcome of the National Assembly elections. “This is payback time for the former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who played the spoiler role against the PDP in 2011; this is just Politics 101,” he said in an interview.
Meanwhile, it was learnt yesterday that the president shunned the meeting with APC leaders and lawmakers because the meeting was not on his itinerary for yesterday. “Even the president found it strange that such a meeting was summoned without his approval; it was not among his outings at all for today (yesterday) and he has vowed to unravel how the invitation was sent out, who approved it and at whose instance, ’ a source said. New Telegraph learnt that it was after the invitation for the meeting had been issued that some leaders of the APC tried to convince Buhari, albeit unsuccessfully, to address the lawmakers.
Among those who tried to persuade him were Tinubu and the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. “As early as you can think of, some leaders of the party had thronged the residence of the president to convince him to address the lawmakers at the International Conference but he insisted that he had no business going there and that his proclamation had already been sent to the National Assembly. He even reminded them that he stood by his promise not to interfere in the choice of the National Assembly leadership. But the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said Buhari did not shun the meeting. “There are so many things of national importance to be done in this country; many things are calling for attention; the president did not shun the meeting,” Shehu told New Telegraph.
The meeting was scheduled for Buhari to address the APC legislators before proceeding to National Assembly to inaugurate them Among the National Leaders of APC who were at the International Conference Centre (ICC), venue of the meeting, were Tinubu, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Chief Bisi Akande, Odigie- Oyegun, APC National Secretary, Alhaji Mala Mai Bunu, Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, and former Governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu. Also, senators and members of House of Representatives supporting Lawan and Gbajabiamila were present.
The meeting, which was conveyed for 9am, could not hold until 11am when the APC national leadership and legislators dispersed the venue on the news of Senate presidency election. While the party members were waiting, New Telegraph overhead discussion among some senators who were demanding Odigie-Oyegun’s resignation for his inability to ensure victories for the party’s candidates.
-New Telegraph
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