By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

 Nigerians  on March 28  went to the poll to elect their representatives in the National Assembly. It was expected that the representatives will give good account of themselves and ensure that the dividends of democracy get down to the various constituencies in the country.

Dogara and Gbajabiamila

But the event on June 26 on the floor of the House of Representatives over the sharing formula of principal officers have left many confused wondering whether their representatives are really honourable men or brawlers.

The build-up to the inauguration of the 8th assembly as regards the election of the presiding officers of the two chambers was a pointer to the fact that the ruling All Progressives Congress, was somehow in a confused state.

Though, after bickering, intrigues, several manoeuvrings and the alleged failed plot to impose the presiding officers on the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the former has been able to reduce the tension within its fold by taking firm decisions devoid of external manipulations.

But the lower chamber appears to have been turned to a theatre of war where the gladiators comprising some party leaders and members are in a fierce battle over who controls the chamber. Although, some of the gladiators in the power struggle are behind the scene, their foot soldiers have taken extreme positions on the sharing formula of the principal officers positions.

As has been highlighted by many commentators in various opinions, the leadership of the APC either as a result of oversight or sinister motives contributed to the crisis that is threatening the party’s unity. The party failed to zone all the positions based on the reality on ground after the general elections.

However, with the elections of the presiding officers being concluded, it is expected that the lawmakers should settle down for the real business for which they were elected, but the signal coming out especially from the House of Representatives indicates that the stage is not yet set for business as the bone of contention now is who make the list of principal officers. As the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara believes that the APC being a national party should adopt nationalistic approach in the distribution of positions, some party leaders appear to be comfortable with politics of exclusion where some parts or geopolitical zones are regarded as not being worthy to be included in the main stream of decision making.

The APC appears to place importance on the supremacy of the party irrespective of the consequence on the generality of the country. But the House leadership and some members of the party who had had their way during the election of the presiding officers, appears unshaken in their decision that all parts of the country and every geopolitical zone is included in respect of the principle of federal character in the sharing or distribution of positions.

The battle has divided the APC members into two camps with the Speaker said to be leading one camp and the former Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila who was the party’s preferred candidate for the speakership position but who lost to Dogara with the support of some party bigwigs and the leadership of the party leading another camp.

Gbajabiamila camp leading about 174 APC members who answer the Loyalists group in its meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on July 1, complained that the Speaker and about 39 members with him have been holding the party in contempt by not obeying the choice of the party for both the speakership and principal officers positions.

The camp also told the President that the Party has chosen not to punish the 39 APC members including the elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker for theI alleged disobedience.

They complained that whereas the beneficiaries of the alleged disobedience are citing Federal Character Principle as the main reason for their action, instances abound that observation of federal character was jettisoned in the 6th assembly.

The Loyalists group led by Rep. Gbajabiamila said, “It should be noted that the Federal Character principle as embedded in chapter of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is not justiciable and of no legal consequence. Its provision in S.14 of the Constitution is only applicable to appointments in Federal Ministries and Agencies.

“The House of Representatives is not an agency of the Federal Government and the principal officers positions are elective and not by appointment. If the Federal Character is applicable to the National Assembly, then both the Senate President and the Speaker cannot come from the North, one of them should be advised to step down.

“It is noteworthy that Mr. President and the Governors had strongly put their weight behind the party and had severally admonished the House to abide by the party’s position. The 39 APC members in the House continue   to collude with the PDP to flagrantly disobey Mr. President, the governors and the party with a view to bringing the Party and Government to ridicule before Nigerians.

As the battle rages on, the party leadership after its National Executive Council meeting mandated the immediate past Speaker of the House and governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal to mediate in the crisis.

Addressing journalists on the efforts of the Tambuwal Mediation Committee, spokesperson of the Speaker camp, Abdulmumuni Jibrin said that after stormy session, his camp agreed to concede the position of the leader to the Gbajabiamila camp but with a caveat that the position should not be occupied by anybody from South West and North East as they have the Deputy Speaker and Speaker respectively.

But in a quick reaction, the Gbajabiamila camp said that there was no such offer of House leader to his group. He also maintained that even if there should be such, the Loyalists camp cannot take anything outside what the party had proposed in complete obedience to the supremacy of the party.

The spokesperson of the camp Hon. Rufai Chachangi in a statement said, “We the 174 APC Loyalists group of the House are aware that there was a private discussion between Gov. Aminu Tambuwal and President Muhammadu Buhari  on Tuesday evening  at the State House  .

“To the best of our knowledge, no counter-offer has been made to the APC Loyalists group after her first meeting with Tambuwal peace committee wherein the APC Loyalists clearly stated that in line with party supremacy resolution reached at last APC NEC meeting, the position of the party on Femi Gbajabiamila as the House Leader is non negotiable.

“We understand that the Dogara group is now playing the zoning card after same group had before the speakership election of June 9th, 2015 rejected the zoning formula of the party prior to the mock election.

“Interestingly the six geopolitical zones in the country are not recognised by the constitution.  But if they wish to play the zoning card then the Senate and House cannot be headed by the North.

“For avoidance of doubt, the issue of South East being denied a principal officer’s seat in the House is hogwash. We have respect for people of South East but we cannot hold brief for a zone that produced only two “new” APC members.

“The issue of exclusion of South East does not exist rather they are not qualified to be principal officers of the House. For emphasis and clarity the provision of standing rules of the House, Order 7 Rule 37 states that   “Only members with cognate legislative experience as members of the national assembly shall be eligible for appointment as principal officers.

“We are also surprised that a group led by Speaker Dogara who is a lawyer is talking about a court action presumably instigated by him base on federal character, when a fresh law school graduate knows that the issue of federal character as enshrined in S.14 of the constitution is non justiciable and of no legal consequence.

It is clear from the positions of the two camps that the resolution of the leadership crisis will take long time before it can be resolved. Besides, it could be deduced that the party leadership because of the list submitted appears to have supported the exclusion of the South East and the North Central zones from occupying principal office positions.

Analysts are of the view that any form of imposition of principal officers on the leadership of the House will lead to more chaotic situation. It will be extremely difficult for strange bed fellows to be in the same boat. They also argued that succumbing to external influence would make the leadership a toothless bulldog and at the same time, make some powerful Chieftains of the APC to continue to dictate for the generality of members if the House is not allowed the leeway to make their choice. The leadership of the House on the other hand is expected to submit to the party’s supremacy but within the constitutional provisions. Anything that should go contrary to the Constitution of the country should be avoided. After all they are the lawmakers and should not behave like law beakers.