PDP, Mark Back Saraki, Dogara For Senate President, Speaker

 

Senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, under the leadership of outgoing Senate President, David Mark, have resolved to cast their votes for Senator Bukola Saraki, as Senate President and Hon Yakubu Dogara, as Speaker, tomorrow.

If this decision is effected and it succeeds, it would have forced the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to taste the bitter pill the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, forced down PDP’s throat in 2011.

National Mirror gathered that the decision of the former ruling party followed the outcome of APC’s mock election, which took place over the weekend where the party adopted Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as Senate President and House Speaker, respectively.

Many PDP House of Representatives members-elect confided in National Mirror that the APC mock election to pick principal officers of the National Assembly would never stand on the floor of the green and red chambers in tomorrow’s voting, as almost all of them have concluded arrangements to vote for Dogara for fairness, equity and independence of the House.

It will be recalled that after the PDP emerged the majority party in both the upper and lower legislative chambers of the National Assembly in the aftermath of the 2011 election, the then ruling party zoned the Speakership of the House of Representatives to the South West zone, zeroing on Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola as the preferred candidate.

The defunct ACN, under the leadership of former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, mobilised opposition lawmakers to truncate the zoning arrangements of the PDP, leading to the emergence of Aminu Tambuwal and Emeka Ihedioha as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, a development many analysts said signaled the beginning of the end of cohesion in the PDP.

Informed inside sources disclosed to National Mirror that to the PDP, it is now payback time, as it is poised to avenge the 2011 truncation of its plan by Tinubu.

At a recent retreat for PDP lawmakers, Senator Mark was alleged to have told all PDP lawmakers-elect to remain in the party, threatening that anyone who defects would most certainly lose his seat as the full wrath of the law will come to bear on such turn coat.

He was said to have said that PDP has the numerical strength to determine what goes on in the National Assembly, hence the need for cohesion and unity of purpose among all its lawmakers.

These were said to have informed the position of the PDP senators and House members to play the spoiler for the APC, if it insists on foisting surrogates on the National Assembly.

Another source told National Mirror that “we are going to vote a neutral person, who can carry all of us along. It happened during Tambuwal and Akande Adeola’s speakership race.

“Both of them were PDP members, but when PDP took side against Tambuwal, some of us with the opposition voted for him, as he was an independent candidate against PDP’s anointed candidate.

“The same thing is likely to happen this time around. If not properly managed by the APC, what happened during Tambuwal will repeat itself on Tuesday.”

A returning PDP member of the House disclosed that Saraki would also enjoy the backing of PDP senators, including Mark.

This was just as National Mirror gathered that all former governors who are now senators-elect or returning senators have decided to pitch their tent with their former colleague, Saraki, without regard for party affiliation.

National Mirror also gathered that there is disquiet among senators and House members from the South West, who are not comfortable with Tinubu’s overbearing meddlesomeness in National Assembly affairs.

The grouse of this group centre on the Speaker coming also from Lagos, the same state that produced Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

They wondered whether Lagos is the only state in the South West, and as such must corner all major political appointments.

As a result, there are indications that South West lawmakers may not vote for the party’s candidates tomorrow, especially as voting will be by secret ballot.

The APC, after picking Lawan and Gbajabiamila, also picked the outgoing Senate Minority Leader, George Akume and Tahir Monguno as Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker respectively, in the election expected to come up tomorrow.

The consensus arrangement was done allegedly to checkmate Saraki and Doghara, whose supporters stormed out of the meeting the party leadership held with all elected federal lawmakers on its platform.

In a related development, the Consolidation Group, a circle of members of the House of Representatives supporting Hon. Dogara, yesterday kicked against Gbajabiamila’s mock choice for the Speaker’s position.

The group said it has written President Muhammadu Buhari, who had initially indicated no interest in the affairs of the National Assembly, but is being forced by the party leadership to support Lawan and Gbajabiamila.

Rejecting the party’s mock choice of National Assembly leadership at a press briefing yesterday, the group insisted that the exercise was marred by fraud and that it was against the party’s constitution; hence its decision to walk out and wait to elect Dogara as their own choice for Speaker tomorrow.

It said: “The 154 votes allocated to Gbajabiamila and three to Dogara showed that the party has made a mockery of itself. We walked out of the venue and yet somebody allocated votes to us. So, members of the public will understand how things have degenerated in our party.

“We never participated in that election. We rejected that election. The numbers that were allocated to us, we reject them. So, ask the party to please toe the path of honour and allow us to decide who will be our Speaker. The House should be left alone to elect its Speaker tomorrow.”

The group’s spokesman, Hon. Abdulmumuni Jibrin, APC-Kano, went ahead to tongue lash the party and Tinubu, alleging that the former governor of Lagos State was trying to pocket the House by ‘foisting’ Gbajabiamila, his protégé and lackey on them.

Jibrin said: “The number four citizen, Speaker of the House, cannot be pocketed by one individual because of his greedy disposition.”

He recalled that “in 2011 some of us were in the PDP and we saw what happened. We are not surprised that after huge intimidation, such numbers are being bandied about as the supporters of a candidate.”

Regretting and alleging that the APC was taking the reins of governance on very wrong footing, the group reiterated its resolve to choose Dogara as House Speaker