BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

House Leadership: On the cliff hanger the mass movement of some members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the APC in the House of Representatives will reshape the configuration of the House and its leadership.

THE envisaged mass movement of members of the New Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP in the House of Representatives to the All Progressives Congress, APC is expected to bring about a change in the configuration in the leadership of the House.

Especially at risk in the House leadership is the Deputy Speaker of the House,  Chief Emeka Ihedioha. Other principal officers on the platform of the PDP such as the Majority Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, Deputy Majority Leader Leo Ogor; and Majority Whip would also suffer similar fate and could at best be transformed into minority principal officers as the case could be.

The expected new configuration of the House would emerge when eventually members of the nPDP decamp en masse to APC which would mean the PDP turning into a minority side in the House.

The PDP presently has 208 members, while the opposition APC has 138 members.  With the exception of Jigawa and Niger states whose governors refused to decamp to the APC, the other five governors whose governors decamped have a total of 48 lawmakers. Out of the 48 lawmakers, 40 are known to be associated with their governors and are expected to move to the APC.

The movement of the 40 lawmakers would bring the strength of the APC to 178 members, while the PDP would be left with 168. Though this would ultimately make the APC to have the highest number of members in the House, it would leave the party three members short of an overall majority which is 181. Should the defection come about, Adeola-Akande, with luck on her side, may emerge as the minority leader, while her deputy, Leo Ogor may clinch the position of deputy minority leader.

This would clearly leave the Deputy Speaker, Ihedioha in the cold as there is no minority deputy speaker.

Permutations on how Ihedioha could survive in office or as a principal officer are indeed said to be part of issues presently delaying the mass defection of the nPDP members.

Even though not as popular, Ihedioha had in the last 18 months remained largely loyal to the speaker in all spheres particularly in matters relating to legislative actions.

But having served as Deputy Speaker, it is difficult to imagine that Ihedioha would condescend to accept any other position in the chamber and may as well decide to stick to being a floor member, a position that may give him all the time he needs to prepare for his well rumoured gubernatorial ambition.

*Akande-Adeola

On the other hand any attempt by him to seek any principal office zoned to the Southeast could lead to a political battle with fellow legislators from the zone given that there are enemies from within.

Adeola-Akande too will only survive if there is a palace coup in the form of a change of guards.

As for Leo Ogor, otherwise known by his fellow lawmakers as the General he is not expected to face a challenge from within or without given his broad level support within the House.

Rep Isiaka Bawa also has a support base that cuts across all the six geo-political zones.

He may clinch the coveted position of the  Minority Whip.

Briefing journalists last Tuesday following a closed door session of the House, the deputy spokesman of the House, Rep Victor Ogene gave an insight into how a change in leadership could be perfected.

He spoke against wide speculations that the configuration of the House was going to be changed last Tuesday.

He said: “I read in some reports that by Tuesday, 3rd of December, there will be leadership change in the House. Today is Tuesday, there is no change. I told you clearly that until a political party hits 181 members, we will not be talking about another majority caucus. Members know how to activate change in political party. So, let’s not speculate on that.”

“As soon as it happens it follows naturally. The only positions that can be said to be at all times at the mercy of all members are the Speaker and Deputy Speaker because this is a position that was voted for by all members. All the other positions arise from the different standings of all the political parties in the House. So, if you are a majority political party, so produce the majority leader. If you are a minority political party, you produce the minority leader. So as soon as that happens, you don’t need anybody to tell you whether there will be leadership change or not.