President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, has told the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that he does not intend to dictate to the National Assembly who their leaders should be, Sunday Trust has learnt.
General Buhari stated this position before the party leadership when the issue of where the Senate Presidency and Speaker of the House of Representatives was tabled at a meeting.
A source at the meeting quoted the president-elect as saying, “I may be wrong; I may be wrong; I may be wrong,” before explaining that he didn’t think it was appropriate for him to dictate to the National Assembly who their leaders should be.
Sunday Trust learnt that the president-elect argued that those elected into the Senate should be able to decide among themselves who should lead them.
There has been a back and forth in the party over which zones should produce the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Unofficial statements said the APC has zone the Senate Presidency to North-Central, while the Speaker of the House of Representatives is zoned to South-West. The two positions are being contested by the North-East which is insisting on either of the two positions.
Already groups have emerged in the two chambers of the National Assembly, which have vowed to take over the leadership of that arm of government, with a resolve that no godfather shall determine who become the leaders.
A senator who is involved in the group told Sunday Trust at the weekend that, “If we’re in the United Kingdom, we should have been called members of the House of Lord. If we’re Lords and another godfather is dictating who leads us, then we’re not. We’ve decided to ensure that members of the Senate decide who leads them, not Buhari, not Tinubu.”
Sunday Trust learnt that the group called “Like-Minds” has about 70 members made up of elected senators from the six geopolitical zones and across party lines.
“We have among us people like Senators Bukola Saraki, George Akume, Mohammed Ali Ndume, Shehu Sani, Dino Melaye, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, many returning and new senators are among us.
“As it stands, there is not endorsement of any candidate for the positions of the Senate President or even Deputy Senate President. Everybody is campaigning. You remember that North-East Senators even came out recently to say they didn’t endorse Senator Ibrahim Lawan for Senate Presidency. At the right time, we’ll surprise everybody because we’ll produce a Senate President of our choice.”
The Publicity Secretary of the “Like Minds” is newly elected Senator Dino Melaye. When our reporter called him to explain why the group is opposed to being dictated to from outside the Red Chamber, Senator Melaye said he was busy, but promised to explain the situation in greater detail to our reporter later.
Meanwhile, a group of some North Central lawmakers have distant themselves from a reported endorsement of Rep Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of House of Representatives in the next Assembly.
The lawmakers, who claimed ignorance of the said endorsement, are Hon Emmanuel Udende, Hon Chris Adabah, Orker Jev, Mark Gbilah and Hon Adamu Entonu, all from Benue state.
A statement published in some national dailies at the weekend indicated that about 20 lawmakers from the North Central zone, under the North Central Caucus platform, are backing the candidacy of the House’s present minority leader for speakership position.
But in a statement issued yesterday, some of the members whose names were among the 20 members dissociated themselves from the list, arguing that they were not consulted before the publication was made.
“We want make it abundantly clear that at no time we sat to endorse Hon. Gbajabiamila as Speaker. Our names were only added to the list and we didn’t sign the notice.
“We are still awaiting the decision of the APC on zoning of National Assembly leadership positions. Both our constituents and Nigerians should be guided,” said the statement.
Source:Sunday Trust
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