BY JIDE AJANI, EMMANUEL AZIKEN, LEKE ADESERI, CLIFFORD NDUJIHE,  Innocent Anaba, HENRY UMORU, BEN AGANDE, EMMAN OVUAKPORIE & INALEGWU SHAIBU

AHEAD of today’s inauguration of the Seventh National Assembly, the political firmament is astir in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria’s political and power city.

Leading contenders for principal offices in the two chambers of the Federal legislature and their backers are engaged in last-minute offensives to determine who pick the top posts.

Although the positions of Senate President and Deputy Senate President are settled in favour of Senator David Mark, who led the Sixth Senate and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, occupiers of the other positions are yet to be firmly determined, hence the frenzy jostle and hustle.

There is an interesting race for the Speaker of the House of Representatives among the trio of Aminu Tambuwal, Mulikat Akande-Adeola and Muraina Ajibola.

While Tambuwal has the support of majority of  members, who are bent on torpedoing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning formula, which ceded the post to the South-West geo-political zone, Akande-Adeola (from the South-West) was said to be enjoying the backing of the Presidency at press time. The South-West caucus of the PDP had earlier backed Ajibola for the position.
This came as allegations of financial inducement to the tune of $5000 for new Reps and $10,000 for old Reps to get one of the speakership candidates elected, rent the air yesterday.

Aside the speakership, there is also a tussle for Senate Minority Leader between Senator George Akume (Benue) and Ganiyu Solomon (Lagos) of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Rep. Aminu Tambuwal...under pressure to step down.;Rep. Mulikat Akande-Adeola... The dark horse.,David Mark... set for re-election and Rep. Muraina Ajibola...Favoured by the Presidency.

Speaking on the intricacies of leadership in the National Assembly, Mark disclosed how he escaped the banana peels that undid three of his successors as Senate President.

How I avoided the banana peels – Mark

Mark said that he was able to avoid the proverbial banana peels that was the Achilles heels of three former Senate Presidents because he allowed national interest, unity, cohesion and team spirit to dictate his actions rather than personal goals.

He stated this when he met with Northern Senators Forum at the weekend in Abuja.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to David Mark, Mr Paul Mumeh, quoted him as saying that “when I came in 2007, I promised to be open, transparent, honest and committed to the ideals of national unity. I’ m a team player and I put the cards on the table. There was mutual respect between me and my colleagues. We built confidence and trusted each other. So, there was no room for the dreaded banana peels.”

Senator Mark assured that if given the opportunity to lead the Seventh Senate, he  would do more to impact positively on the lives of the ordinary Nigerian.  To achieve that goal , he promised  to lay emphasis on oversight functions to ensure that ministries, departments and agencies implement appropriation Acts to the letter saying that whatever bottleneck on the way would be erased.

Earlier,  the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Umaru Dahiru noted the challenges faced by the northern region including political leadership occasioned by the exit of late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and  desertification, which he requested for a combined effort to tackle.

Senator Ahmed Lawan of Yobe State was named the secretary of the forum for the incoming Senate. He replaced former Federal  Capital Territory (FCT), minister, Senator Bala Mohammed.

All set for Mark, Ekweremadu’s emergence

Barring last minute drama, Senators David Mark and Ike Ekweremadu will be elected today as Senate President and Deputy Senate President of the Seventh Senate.

Senator Mark who is seeking re-election after a successful spell as Senate President stands unopposed in the election which will be conducted by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa.

His supposed opponent, Senator-elect Danjuma Goje had last Thursday withdrawn from the race, after claiming that he had been disfavoured by the Senate ranking rules and the zoning formula of the PDP.

By last count, the coordinator, Senator David Mark re-election campaign group, Senator Smart Adeyemi disclosed that about 91 Senators-elect had appended their signatures endorsing the candidature of Mark and Ekweremadu for the Senate Presidency and Deputy Senate Presidency respectively.

Why we want Mark – Ewherido

Senator-elect, Pius Ewherido (DPP, Delta Central) has given reasons why Mark would be returned as Senate President.

Ewherido, a former deputy speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, in a telephone interview, said the stabilising influence of  Mark during his leadership of the Sixth Senate made it imperative for him to be returned as President of the Senate today.

Ewherido who is the only one representing the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, in the Senate said:
“I am totally in support of Senator David Mark and this is because from the records, you will notice the stabilising influence he brought to bear in his leadership of the National Assembly. The proverbial banana peels were not an issue in the last Senate and this must be a result of his capacity for good leadership.”

Tambuwal under pressure to step down

While  Senators David Mark and Ike Ekweremadu were yesterday on course to emerge as President and deputy President of the seventh Senate, respectively, uncertainty was the case in the House of Representatives as the ruling PDP piled pressure on Rep. Aminu Tambuwal to jettison his plan to contest the office of Speaker.

Besides Governors and senior party officials, senior traditional rulers from the North were yesterday said to have weighed in to stop Tambuwal in favour of the party’s choice, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola-Akande.

The PDP, it was learnt, was making some success in whittling down the support base of the outgoing deputy whip, Aminu Tambuwal. A number of new members-elect, earlier supportive of Tambuwal, were believed to have caved in to the pressures from their Governors. But many others especially returning members were said to be holding on.

Besides using the Governors, it was learnt that the PDP hierarchy had brought influence on the National Assembly management to use serialised ballot papers in order to identify members-elect who would deviate from the party’s endorsement of a candidate from the South-West.

Tambuwal ‘ll not step down

However, sources in the Tambuwal campaign affirmed yesterday that their candidate would not cave in to the pressures.

“This is a House project, Tambuwal is just the face of the project and he is not going to cave in to the pressures. We are already smelling victory and people who think he is going to cave in don’t know the man,” a source within the Tambuwal campaign disclosed yesterday.

Tambuwal and his leading lieutenants were yesterday locked up in meetings on how to address the pressures from the PDP.

Uncertainty trails Minority posts in Senate, HOR

Uncertainty was also the case in the selection of a new minority leader for the Senate. Senator Ganiyu Solomon who had earlier been chosen in a mock election was yesterday facing serious challenges following the determination of some serving Governors and former Governors to position Senator George Akume as the minority leader.

The prospect of Akume emerging as Minority leader is, however, being challenged by allies of Senator Mark who it was learnt are now considering Senator Ehigie Uzamere for the position as a consensus choice.

During a straw poll conducted at Lagos House in Abuja, the minority Senators-elect had endorsed Senator Ganiyu Solomon from Lagos State after Senator Ehigie Uzamere (ACN, Edo South) stepped down for him. Uzamere, it was learnt, stepped down upon the reasoning that Solomon had spent more years in the legislature.

However, crisis over Solomon’s choice broke out at a meeting on Saturday night in Lagos House as a group of former Governors allegedly sought to replace him with Akume. The former Governors, it was also learnt would want to replace Uzamere earlier tipped for Minority Whip with Senator-elect Chris Ngige, himself also a former Governor.

The decision was immediately challenged by supporters of Senator Mark, who believe that the choice of Akume as minority leader was aimed at destabilising the new leadership.

A meeting to resolve the crisis was scheduled for the Transcorp Hilton Hotel last night and the meeting was yet to commence as at press time.

The meeting in Lagos House, nevertheless resolved that the position of Minority Leader and Minority Whip would go to the ACN, while the deputy minority leader would go to the ANPP and the deputy whip would be produced by the CPC.

Confusion on choice of candidate

Unfortunately, the ruling party itself should be held responsible for the scenario playing out in the House due to its confusion on its choice of candidate among the two eligible candidates from South-West — Hon. Ajibola Muraina and Mulikat Akande-Adeola.

Amid this confusion, supporters of the Hon. Tambuwal are capitalising on the seemingly double speak of the ruling party to sell their candidate whom they believe is the only candidate with a popular support among elected members without outside interference.

Tambuwal is also said to be enjoying popular support from legislators from the North and the South-East whose members are said to be secretly working against the emergence of speaker from the South-west. Their argument is that the south-west does not deserve to retain the speakership position due to the woeful performance of the party in the zone during the just concluded general elections.

Supporters of Tambuwal noted that for the house to remain vibrant and independent, it has to elect a candidate popular among members and not the one imposed on them by presidency like Speaker Salisu Buhari in 1999 and Patricia Etteh in 2007.

Presidency backs Akande-Adeola

To checkmate the Tambuwal wave to make PDP zoning formula a nullity, the PDP hierarchy is said to be on its toes but much will depend on newly elected members with their numerical strength which is about 262 against 98 old returnee representatives.

The Reps, from all indications, have an axe to grind with the ruling PDP because in the past the impositions of the party brought ridicule to the House.

Some Reps that spoke to Vanguard under anonymity said the imposition had made the House uncoordinated and prone to scandals.

“If we are allowed to pick our leader, we will manage our crises better than when our leaders are imposed,” the source added.

Mulikat had been the dark horse in the speakership race because she was not known with any backer but suddenly the support from the presidency has catapulted to the position of a major contender to the number one spot in the Green Chamber.

The interest of the vice president in the contest may soften the grounds for Mulikat but the Tambuwal camp is said to be agog with activities as at yesterday.

The open secret ballot system adopted by the House last two weeks may play a pivotal role in today election.

Sharing of $5000, $10,000 to Reps causes ripples

Indeed there were strong indications that failure to get majority members of the House to adopt the zoning formula of the PDP had led to some of them being induced financially.

Vanguard gathered yesterday that the PDP governors met severally with their elected House of Representatives members on Saturday night following the order from the National Working Committee, NWC that they must ensure that the PDP resolution on zoning of political offices was strictly followed by making sure that the South West and the candidate of the party and the Presidency gets the Speakership position.

A member from Akwa Ibom, who spoke with Vanguard after their meeting with governors on Saturday night said: “We were asked to ensure that the position of the party is strictly adhered to and that it would amount to anti party activities if we disobeyed the party directives in this matter”.

The member disclosed that they were given $10,000 each after the meeting to ensure that they followed the party’s line.  Another member from Delta State confirmed that financial inducement was made possible to Reps to ensure that they voted along the PDP directives.

It was also alleged that new members under the Seventh Assembly Group shared another $5000, which is causing ripples as old members were said to have been excluded from the largesse.

Lawyers back Tambuwal

Lawyers in the country have backed Tambuwal for the position of Speaker of House of Representatives, noting that the leadership of the House should not be based on ethnic sentiments but on intellectual ability and time-tested leadership qualities.

According to the lawyers, the logjam over the choice Speaker was unwarranted. Tambuwal, a lawyer is from the North-West and represents Kebbe-Tambuwal Constituency, Sokoto State.

Senior lawyers, who preferred not to be named, said the PDP zoning formula had been rendered ineffective with the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan, adding that Tambuwal has the experience, intellectual capacity and finesse to lead the House.

Speaking on the issue,  General Secretary of  Nigerian Bar Association, NBA,  Mr. Olumuyiwa Akinboro, said ‘’every Nigerian has the right to aspire for and equally contest for any office in the land as provided by the 1999 constitution. No Nigerian shall be prevented from contesting for any office for any reason whatsoever.”

Yoruba leaders in last-minute effort

There were indications yesterday that leaders of Yoruba land were making frantic efforts to persuade the leadership of the ACN to work with the leadership of the PDP in ensuring that the job of the Speaker of the House of Representatives emerges from the South West geo-political zone.

This indication was further given vent yesterday night by one of the traditional rulers in the zone to whom President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have reached out to.

Vanguard gathered that the kernel of the emerging reality is based on the need to have a voice in the Federal Government as all the key federal appointments had been zoned on a geo-political basis.