Anxiety rises as Senators, Reps-elects selects leaders today

Firstclass newsline learnt that security was tightened at the National
Assembly on Monday, preparatory to the inauguration of the 8th
Assembly on Tuesday(today).
President Muhammadu Buhari, who will arrive in Abuja on Tuesday
morning from Germany where he attended the G-7 Summit, is expected to
conduct the ceremony which will be followed by the election of the
assembly's leadership.
But going by the happenings in the ruling All Progressives Congress
and among its members in the Assembly, the elections of the Senate
President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives may not be
rancour-free.
The party had on Saturday conducted mock elections that saw Femi
Gbajabiamila and Ahmad Lawan as consensus candidates for the House
speaker and Senate President respectively.
But the mock elections were condemned by Bukola Saraki and Yakubu
Dogara, who, in spite of the APC directive to them and their
supporters, insisted on vying for the Senate Presidency and
speakership on Tuesday(today).
Saraki and Dogora are hoping to garner most of their votes from the
Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers.
As of press time on Monday, a series of meetings by stakeholders were
about to commence at different locations in Abuja as the aspirants
intensified their lobby to clinch the coveted positions.
* Saraki, Dogara shun Osinbajo's peace meeting
A truce meeting that was to be presided over by Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo was allegedly shunned by Dogara, Saraki and their
supporters.
The National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, who
announced the meeting, had told journalists in Abuja that the party
was doing everything to reconcile all its aggrieved lawmakers-elect.
Odigie-Oyegun explained that all the new APC lawmakers were being
called upon to respect the party and abide by the majority
decision taken on those that should lead the National Assembly.
He had said, "I want to appeal to APC members in both the Senate and
the House of Representatives to respect the party, its view and the
decision they themselves took in selecting the persons that will be
presented to the National Assembly as the presiding officers.
"I want to make it clear, all the party did was to provide a platform
for all elected members of the party in stating their preferences;
this they have freely done in front of the party leadership.
"It seems that some of the aspirants feel not satisfied with the
preferences of the majority of the members but for me as the chairman
and other members of the NWC, we want to appeal that no individual
interest should be allowed to override the interest of the party as a
whole."
The chairman argued that since they contested on the platform of the
party and rather than the other way round, they must respect " the
party's views and its methods of doing things."
According to him, the party was fully aware that it could not impose
leaders on the legislators hence all it did was to provide a platform
for them to chose amongst themselves who their leaders would be.
He said, "We should let peace reign, we've all agreed to change and it
must start with the conduct of the members themselves. To achieve
this, Vice President Osinbajo will also have the opportunity to
address elected APC National Assembly members.
"This is the very first step of the distribution of the spoils of
office. The APC has survived a lot of predictions; we have survived
and put many doomsayers to shame, this too shall come to pass."
But minutes before the meeting with Osinbajo was scheduled to begin, a
source close to Dogara sent a statement, saying the House of
Representatives-elect members loyal to Dogara would not attend the
parley .
The statement cited threats to their "personal safety and liberty" as reason.
The statement which was sent via SMS partly read, " Information
reaching us indicates that this purported meeting is a ploy to arrest
and detain members until after tomorrow's election. Members should
therefore disregard the invitation."
There was no word from the camp of Saraki on why they shunned the
truce meeting. Efforts by one of our correspondents to contact the
former Kwara State governor proved abortive as his telephone line did
not connect.
Osinbajo himself was not at the meeting. He was however represented
by Odigie-Oyegun.
Osinbajo had earlier spent close to one hour meeting with the APC
chairman behind closed doors at the party's national secretariat .
Lawmakers who had converged at the venue of the meeting left one
after another when it became apparent that the Vice President would
not be there in person.
It was learnt that Odigie-Oyegun pleaded with members to vote for
party supremacy as it had discovered that the opposition PDP might
take advantage of the situation if not properly handled.
APC governors were however holding a meeting aimed at pacifying the
aggrieved aspirants at the Imo State Governor's Lodge in Abuja at
about 10.30pm on Monday.
Before the meeting started, Dogara and Gbajabiamila's camps made
bold statements and began boasting of victory.
Dogara's group for instance, restated its stance to defy the decision
of the APC to pick Gbajabiamila, saying that the power to elect a
speaker for the House rested with the 360 members-elect and not a
"clique" operating from outside the National Assembly.
Part of a statement by the spokesman for the 8th Assembly
Consolidation Group, Abdulmumin Jibrin, reads, "As we brace for
Tuesday's inauguration of the 8th session of the National Assembly, we
wish to state here that we are going ahead to nominate Dogara for
election into the office of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
"We urge members-elect and all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard any
form of insinuation about our stance.
"We are taking our destinies in our hands; we are going to the floor
of the House to decide who leads the next Assembly.
"Absolute power comes from God almighty and He gives it to any one He wishes.
"We are calling on all members-elect to vote for the independence of
the legislature by ensuring that Dogara emerges as the next Speaker of
the House of Representatives.
"Only the 360 members can determine who becomes their Speaker and
represents the interests of all Nigerians and not the interest of a
clique."
But, in the Gbajabiamila camp, investigations showed that the members
were unruffled as they claimed to be sure of victory.
A member of the group, who did not want to be named, explained that
their thinking was that "some things don't need debating."
"The APC has 213 members in the House. 154 of those members voted for
Gbajabiamila at the mock election. What does that tell you?," he
asked.
Before Odigie-Oyegun spoke with journalists, it was gathered that some
APC senators were holding a closed-door meeting at the International
Conference Centre in Abuja ahead of the elections on Tuesday(today).
Firstclass newsline also learnt that members of the PDP Senate caucus
were meeting at the Nicon Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
Details of the two meetings were sketchy because no member of either
groups offered information about their discussions.
Saraki and Lawan had before the meetings on Monday intensified their
lobby for support from the PDP senators-elect.
Unconfirmed reports from the camps of Saraki and Lawan alleged that
foreign currencies and promises of membership of juicy committees were
offered to members of the PDP caucus.
A leading member of the Like Minds Senators, told one of our
correspondents in Abuja that a godfather in the APC had since Sunday
been reaching out to both the APC and PDP senators-elect.
He said, "The desperation started last week when some senators who
were among the 34 signatories to the letter addressed to the national
chairman of the party ( Odigie-Oyegun), endorsing Saraki were enjoined
to resist monetary inducement.
"We are seriously relying on members who are real men of integrity to
stand by their words and vote according to their conscience on the
floor tomorrow(Tuesday)."
Increased security at National Assembly complex
There was increased presence of policemen and other security
operatives at all the gates leading to the National Assembly complex
on Monday.
Visitors and members of staff were required to identify themselves
before being allowed to enter the complex.
Findings also showed that within the complex, access to the popular
'White House' was restricted by security operatives and
Sergeant-at-Arms personnel.
The White House is the area housing the Senate and the House of
Representatives chambers, as well as the main lobby and offices of the
Clerk to the National Assembly.
As part of measures to prevent security breaches and control crowd
today (Tuesday), all members of staff and persons having any function
to perform must be accredited.
Senators and members-elect were also accredited, starting from last Saturday.
Group protests at National Assembly.
Also on Monday, a group under the aegis of Buhari/Osinbajo Coalition,
protested at the National Assembly Complex over what it called
'imposition' of National Assembly leaders.
Coordinator of the group, Yusuf Nadabo, decried the mock election by
the APC on Saturday which produced Lawan and George Akume (Benue North
West) as Senate President and Deputy Senate President.
The election also saw Femi Gbajabiamila and Tahir Monguno emerging
as the APC consensus candidate for the House of Representative speaker
and deputy speaker.
"We believe in sustainability of democracy. We don't want a mock
election. We want a proper election," it said.
Firstclassnewsline.net