Tambuwal's supporters ignore party's threat
ACN, CPC lawmakers may decide winner
THE acceptability and popularity of the zoning formula adopted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will face a major acid test in the House of Representatives as its Speaker and other presiding officers emerge today.
The battle line is drawn between the proponents of the arrangement, chiefly the PDP and the Presidency, and the opponents of the deal, who are mostly lawmakers, elected on the party's platform but are working against the zoning formula.
As at yesterday evening, supporters of the two contenders, Mulikat Adeola-Akande and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, maintained a "no retreat, no surrender" position.
The PDP through its state governors has threatened to sanction whoever disobeyed it by voting against the subsisting zoning formula, where the South-West geo-political zone is expected to produce the next Speaker.
Amid the intrigues, former Senate President David Mark, who is highly favoured to retain his office in the seventh Senate, has denied interfering in the development in the Lower House.
Mark through his Special Adviser on Media, Kola Ologbodion, said although he remained a faithful and loyal PDP member, he had not made any attempt to intervene in the internal affairs of the House.
Some national dailies had alleged that Mark was involved in the series of political manipulations to mount pressure on members-elect to comply with the PDP rule on zoning.
"I can tell you that there is no truth in that report. The Senate President has never interfered in the affairs of the House of Representatives and will not start now," Ologbodion said.
It was learnt yesterday that Ajibola Muraina has bowed to pressure from the party to quit the race to enable the party mobilise its members in the House in favour of the zoning formula.
Vice President Namadi Sambo and some PDP leaders allegedly advised Muraina to take the decision to back Adeola-Akande in good faith and remained a "party man".
Sources close to the campaign team of Muraina said he had accepted to withdraw from the race.
But the Tambuwal camp said it would not be deterred by the PDP's threat to sanction them and would go ahead to perfect strategies for today's election.
A key supporter of Tambuwal, Emmanuel Jime, told The Guardian yesterday that the threat to sanction whoever votes against the party's choice has failed to achieve the desired political result because "Nigerians are aware of the mistakes by the party that resulted in the emergence of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State in 2007."
He dismissed speculations that Tambuwal might withdraw from the race because of pressure from the PDP and the Presidency as cheap propaganda.
"My brother, what I can tell you now is that we should wait till tomorrow (today) to see what will happen. If he is going to resign, must it be his political opponents that will know of it first?"
But the PDP is mobilising its members-elect seriously in favour of the zoning arrangement. Apart from using the Presidency and state governors, the party has also sent some elders, whose words could persuade those perceived to be working against zoning to meet with the lawmakers in groups.
Against this backdrop, zonal caucuses of the House are at work. The South-South Caucus has already declared support for the PDP's arrangement.
Its chairman, Andrew Uchendu, said at the weekend that the South-South Caucus said it had no reason to back out of the zoning arrangement of the PDP and so had decided to work for it.
The North-East Caucus, which has been insisting on retaining the position of Deputy Speaker, which it had during the sixth House, said there was no going back.
Chairman of the caucus, Anthony Madwatte presented the position of the body in these words:
"The caucus believes that since the zoning arrangement entails that the status quo be maintained that invariably means that the zone should be allowed to produce the next Deputy Speaker- a position the zone now occupies.
"The caucus supports in-to-to the zoning arrangement of political offices at the national level which cedes the Deputy Speakership to the North-East.
"The caucus is of the opinion that any other arrangement that seeks to re-zone the office of the Deputy Speaker to another zone other than North-East will amount to total disregard for the entire region and our contributions to the Nigeria Project."
Even in the North-West zone where Tambuwal hails from, some lawmakers are opposed to the zone producing the Speaker.
A group of lawmakers on the platform of The Initiative led by Nasir Garo from Kano State had declared that it would work in favour of zoning.
According to the group, the North-West is prepared to take whatever position is zoned to it in accordance with the PDP zoning arrangement.
Following a series of horse-trading and other high level sundry meetings with some legislators and members-elect at the weekend, the ranks of recalcitrant members of PDP acting against zoning may have been broken, according to a PDP chief.
The new Speaker must get the votes of 240 of the 360 members of the House.
The PDP leader claimed that having garnered the support of a simple majority of members for Adeola-Akande (PDP, Oyo), the party has crushed the ranks of what he called the "rebel group."
There were also indications at the weekend that returning members including Leo Ogor, Ndudi Elumelu, and Chief Whip Emeka Ihedioha, are seeking to be Majority Leader and Deputy Speaker under a Tambuwal administration.
The party is said to have tipped Yakubu Dogara (PDP, Bauchi) as Deputy Speaker, Friday Itulah (PDP, Edo) as Leader of the House and Patrick Asadu (PDP, Enugu) as Chief Whip.
Other members said to be expressing support for the Speakership aspiration of Tambuwal who, though a PDP member from Sokoto (North-West) were also said to have received the party's cold shoulder in its leadership selection concluded at the weekend.
Leader of a pro-South-West Speakership group under the aegis of United Nigeria Group (UNG), Friday Itulah, who is eyeing the position of Leader of the Lower Chamber, in his reaction to the party's choice in Abuja, said "as a former two-time Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly and loyal member of the party, I am most qualified.
Two members of the Tambuwal group, Emmanuel Jime (PDP, Benue) and Chris Eta (PDP, Cross River) said the party was free to make a choice and "members of the House are also free to decide."
Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday asked incoming members of the House to resist any attempt to muscle the legislature, declaring that the expected transformation of the country would remain a mirage with a rubber stamp legislature.
The group alleged an attempt by the President and the PDP to foist a "rubber stamp" leadership on the National Assembly, stressing that their action undermines the independence of the legislature
In a statement issued in Enugu and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, the CNPP said it would be difficult for President Goodluck Jonathan to achieve his agenda of transforming the country under a rubber-stamp National Assembly.
Source: PDP, Reps in final battle over new Speaker today (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50376:pdp-reps-in-final-battle-over-new-speaker-today&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)