House Speakership: Tinubu’s candidate faces fierce battle with Dogara

Twenty days to the   inauguration of the new government of All Progressives Congress, APC, there is still no sign that the party has reached a compromise on which geopolitical zone of the country that will produce the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Bola Tinubu arriving yesterday

Instead, the matter has so rattled the party that two different committees have emerged to broker a ruse amongst zones and forces contending for the position.

It has also thrown up at least two zones and two candidates who are now on a hot race for the position.

They are north east and the south west zones. While Hon. Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi State jostles from the north east, the south west through the National leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is insisting on the candidacy of the outgoing minority leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos State.

It will be recalled that the party had on May 22 at the Party’s leadership meeting in Abuja appointed a two man committee comprising the president-elect, General Mohammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of the Party, Chief John Oyegun to resolve the issue when it became obvious that the two zones were at each other’s throat for the office.

But the Buhari/Oyegun committee has not met and if it had, the outcome of the meeting is yet to be made public. But an authentic party source who also shares an affinity with the House of Representatives confided in Saturday Vanguard yesterday that the committee’s willingness to meet for the purpose was poor.

According to him, the president-elect may have since taken a position on the matter which is that the incoming members of the National Assembly should be given the liberty to choose who become their leader without external interferences.

APC yet to formerly zone the slot

The issue of zoning offices in APC has a faint recognition and may even be jettisoned. This is even why another member of the House, Hon. Abdulmumini Jubril from Kano State recorded first in launching his interest before any other person.

But his interest could not fly die to the simple reason that he came from the same zone with the president-elect even though he is subtly pushing.

As at yesterday, the party has not officially ceded the slot to any zone and most people believe that is the springboard of the clash of interest currently going on in the party.

With this, the race has almost assumed the dimension of “do-or-die” affair between Dogara and Gbajabiamila who have intensified lobbying among the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s members in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly.

A source also told Saturday Vanguard that Tinubu, Gbajabiamila’s backbone is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the south west emerges victorious in the contest.

APC Governors-elect float a peace committee

Meanwhile, to broker a ruse in the imbroglio surrounding the speakership, the newly-elected governors of APC last week set up a 5-man Committee.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that the Committee which was obviously a voluntary one was however parallel to Buhari/Oyegun Committee.

The incoming Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai is the Head of the committee with the outgoing House of Representatives Speaker and Governor-elect of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal and the Governor-elect of Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong as members.

Though, the mandate of the committee was not specifically mentioned as to whether it would take sides with either of the candidates, it was learnt that its objective was not however unconnected with finding a middle ground so that the looming crisis in the party would be nibbed in the bud.

But unfortunately, the committee’s first outing which took place last week Tuesday, Saturday Vanguard gathered ended in deadlock.

It was not ascertained whether they met again this week but expectations are high that the Committee would meet next week.

Dogara’s support base gathers momentum with 286 members on the queue

Meanwhile, while, the intrigues intensified last week, Saturday Vanguard gathered that Dogara’s support base witnessed a rise.

At the moment, 143 members from both APC and PDP have pencilled down their names in support of Dogara. Bulk of the members came from the PDP’s 139 figure.

It was learnt that irrespective of any apparent future pressure, the people have sworn to swim and sink with him.

In addition to this number, Saturday Vanguard source hinted that the camp is also playing a smart game, using the members to bring more to the camp.

To this end, each person among the 143 persons has the mandate of bringing at least one more person.

Should this strategy pay off, it means that the Bauchi State born parliamentarian could becoasting home with 286 votes out of 360 votes of the House’s numerical strength. But nobody is sure.

“If the permutations work out and members return to camp with at least one more member, it then becomes obvious that Dogara has already won Gbaja”, the source said in confidence.

Gbajabiamila seriously networking

Even with Dogara’s game plan, Saturday Vanguard also gathered that his opponent, Gbajabiamila is not relenting.

He is seriously reaching out to both camps as well.

Sources from the national assembly said he wasn’t doing badly in his strategies but according to them, it would be a fierce battle between them.

It was further learnt that no one was had any serious qualms with his candidacy but those behind him.

“Gbaja may be a better candidate but the fear that he may be subservient to one person is a very serious factor many people are considering. He may have the support of the south west lawmakers but I can guarantee him the votes of most PDP members. Anyway, this depends on future developments,” a source said.

 

House Speakership: Tinubu’s candidate faces fierce battle with Dogara