APC NWC to Meet as Unresolved Issues Force Extension of House Recess
- Gbajabiamila to reply Dogara's letter before resumption
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
All Progressives Congress is set to convene a special meeting of its National Working Committee, which would be followed by a meeting of the National Executive Committee, to discuss the latest impasse in the distribution of principal offices in the National Assembly. THISDAY learnt that the focus of the meetings would be a letter written to the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, by Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara in which he, apparently, stuck to his guns on the question of the principal officers in direct conflict with the party’s opinion.
This was as the Clerk of the lower chamber, Mr. Sani Omolori, yesterday announced the postponement of resumption of plenary session from July 21 to July 28, in what is believed to be forced by the lingering disagreements over the allocation of the principal positions.
Dogara had in a July 16 letter addressed to Odigie-Oyegun maintained that the post of Majority Leader of the 8th House of Representatives should go to the North-west, while Deputy House Leader should go to the North-central, Chief Whip to the South-south, and Deputy Whip to the South-east . Dogara said his proposal was in line with the principle of federal character, stressing that the House of Representatives should have been consulted on the distribution of the principal offices before the party issued its dairectives on the matter and made them public.
The Speaker’s letter was in response to the APC chairman’s letter to the Speaker on June 23, where he stated the party’s zoning of the principal offices in the House, thus, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (House Leader), South-west; Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa (Deputy House Leader), North-west; Hon. M. T. Monguno (Chief Whip), North-east; and Hon. Pally Iriase(Deputy Chief Whip), South-south. Odigie-Oyegun had also written a similar letter to Senate President Bukola Saraki, which, however, was completely flouted.
Gbajabiamila, who leads the group of members aligned to the APC leadership’s position, said his “position will be communicated before resumption” of the House. He was responding to enquiries as to whether his group would consider Dogara’s proposal and present APC caucus members for the posts as proposed by the Speaker or reject the proposal and allow members to decide by election.
THISDAY gathered that the letter by Dogara had forced the party to rethink options for resolving the leadership crisis in the House and consider referring the matter to the Board of Trustees as soon it is inaugurated. The BoT is expected to be inaugurated after the Ramadan holidays.
A very reliable source in APC told THISDAY yesterday that the party had received Dogara's letter and would table it before the NWC this week after which it could be referred to either the BoT or NEC.
“The lingering disagreement caused by rejection of the party's directive is a major challenge to our leadership and it is not what the party chairman can handle alone. It has to be tabled before the NWC, which will decide on further options to undertake in ending the rift,” the source said.
Before the latest moves, the House leadership under Dogara had agreed to allow the Gbajabiamila group to produce the House Leader but with a caveat that the candidate for the post should be from any zone other than the North-east and South-west that had already produced the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
The Gbajabiamila group has rejected any solution that would not cede the office of House Leader to South-west. The group, in a statement issued by Hon. Rufai Chachangi rejecting a peace deal by Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, said there was no agreement yet and Tambuwal had not returned to them.
Dogara’s letter and the subsequent reactions are indications that the mediation effort by Tambuwal, conducted under the auspices of the Progressive Governors Forum, may have fallen apart. The Tambuwal team were said to have concluded their report before the Ramadan holiday
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