Feelers from the National Assembly on Tuesday
indicated that members of the House of Representatives were still
unwilling to yield to pressure by the Peoples Democratic Party to allow
it decide how the remaining positions for principal officers in the
House would be shared.
With the position of speaker taken by Mr. Aminu Tambuwal (North-West) and deputy speaker given to Mr. Emeka Ihedioha (South-East), there are four other key offices up for grab.
They are the positions of House Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip.
The PDP had opposed the emergence of Tambuwal and Ihedioha on the excuse that lawmakers disregarded the zoning arrangement of the party.
By its zoning decision, the party had originally zoned the position of speaker to the South-West and the deputy speaker to the North-East.
However, after the lawmakers jettisoned the zoning policy by overwhelmingly voting for Tambuwal/Ihedioha on June 6, the pair later apologised to the party and begged for forgiveness.
Reports indicated that the condition the party gave for accepting the apology was that it would decide how the remaining offices and key standing committees of the House would be shared.
This decision was said to have been taken in a bid to placate aggrieved zones that had lost out in the power equation and redeem the zoning policy of the PDP.
Investigations by THE PUNCH, however, showed that the House was not about to defer to the party.
It was learnt that just as they did in selecting Tambuwal and Ihedioha, many lawmakers were bent on deciding who filled the vacant positions, not the PDP.
A series of meetings held by lawmakers at various caucuses since the House went on vacation two weeks ago had reportedly failed to resolve the issue. Majority of the lawmakers complained about what they described as the “PDP’s meddlesomeness.”
An influential member of the House confided in The PUNCH in Abuja that his colleagues were not interested in “any zoning arrangement by the PDP.”
The House member said, “The PDP should allow us to run our affairs; they should concentrate on how to manage the party, not the House.
“Zoning will not work because it is against the principles of democracy. We have argued over and over that it (zoning) has no backing in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This is an independent House; in a democracy, there is separation of powers.
“The PDP must come to terms with the fact that whatever it says outside does not change how we plan to take our decisions on the floor of the House.
“We have started a revolution in the House and there is no going back on it.”
Findings on Monday showed that three of the front runners for the position of House Leader for instance, were from the South-South, the zone that produced President Goodluck Jonathan.
A former chairman of the Committee on Power, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu (Delta State) and a former Chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, Mr. Leo Ogor (Delta State), are in the race.
A third aspirant, Mr. Friday Etulah (Edo State), is also said to be in the race, an indication that the South-West and North-East were left of out of the calculations.
But, the PDP said that it was not aware that its lawmakers in the House were bent on working at cross-purposes with it.
According to the National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Alkali Rufai, the PDP is yet to be informed that the House is not ready to cooperate with the party.
“I am not aware of it. How am I sure that it is from them? Okay, I will make some calls and get back to you,” Rufai said.
When he was contacted again, the publicity secretary replied, “I am just hearing this from you. I cannot be too sure that your facts are right.
“I have not heard it from any other place. I have no further comment at the moment until I get details. But I want to say categorically, that there is no division within the National Working Committee on any matter at the moment.
“Contrary to insinuation, we are not in any crisis.”
Investigations also revealed that plum committees like the Committee on Appropriation might go to the North-West.
As lawmakers intensified scrambling for committee positions, The PUNCH learnt that a powerful legislator from the North-West, who campaigned vigorously for Tambuwal’s emergence, was angling to be chairman of the committee on appropriations.
Sources close to the Selection Committee chaired by Tambuwal, confided in THE PUNCH that many ‘ranking’ lawmakers were lobbying to head top committees like Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream); Committee on Gas Resources; Committee on House Services; and Committee on Defence.
These committees and others like Committee on Finance, Committee on Education, Banking and Currency, Committee on Customs and Committee on Communications are perceived by lawmakers to be “juicy”, a reason which explains the alleged scheming for their membership.
A source close to the leadership confirmed to one of our correspondents on Monday that members were being considered for the committees but declined to speak on the likely chairmen.
He said, “The Selection Committee has been working; they are working on the various committees and picking members.
“As for the chairmen, I don’t know anything about that; I can’t speak on that.”
By John Ameh and Fidelis Soriwei Courtesy Of: Punch
With the position of speaker taken by Mr. Aminu Tambuwal (North-West) and deputy speaker given to Mr. Emeka Ihedioha (South-East), there are four other key offices up for grab.
They are the positions of House Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip.
The PDP had opposed the emergence of Tambuwal and Ihedioha on the excuse that lawmakers disregarded the zoning arrangement of the party.
By its zoning decision, the party had originally zoned the position of speaker to the South-West and the deputy speaker to the North-East.
However, after the lawmakers jettisoned the zoning policy by overwhelmingly voting for Tambuwal/Ihedioha on June 6, the pair later apologised to the party and begged for forgiveness.
Reports indicated that the condition the party gave for accepting the apology was that it would decide how the remaining offices and key standing committees of the House would be shared.
This decision was said to have been taken in a bid to placate aggrieved zones that had lost out in the power equation and redeem the zoning policy of the PDP.
Investigations by THE PUNCH, however, showed that the House was not about to defer to the party.
It was learnt that just as they did in selecting Tambuwal and Ihedioha, many lawmakers were bent on deciding who filled the vacant positions, not the PDP.
A series of meetings held by lawmakers at various caucuses since the House went on vacation two weeks ago had reportedly failed to resolve the issue. Majority of the lawmakers complained about what they described as the “PDP’s meddlesomeness.”
An influential member of the House confided in The PUNCH in Abuja that his colleagues were not interested in “any zoning arrangement by the PDP.”
The House member said, “The PDP should allow us to run our affairs; they should concentrate on how to manage the party, not the House.
“Zoning will not work because it is against the principles of democracy. We have argued over and over that it (zoning) has no backing in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This is an independent House; in a democracy, there is separation of powers.
“The PDP must come to terms with the fact that whatever it says outside does not change how we plan to take our decisions on the floor of the House.
“We have started a revolution in the House and there is no going back on it.”
Findings on Monday showed that three of the front runners for the position of House Leader for instance, were from the South-South, the zone that produced President Goodluck Jonathan.
A former chairman of the Committee on Power, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu (Delta State) and a former Chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, Mr. Leo Ogor (Delta State), are in the race.
A third aspirant, Mr. Friday Etulah (Edo State), is also said to be in the race, an indication that the South-West and North-East were left of out of the calculations.
But, the PDP said that it was not aware that its lawmakers in the House were bent on working at cross-purposes with it.
According to the National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Alkali Rufai, the PDP is yet to be informed that the House is not ready to cooperate with the party.
“I am not aware of it. How am I sure that it is from them? Okay, I will make some calls and get back to you,” Rufai said.
When he was contacted again, the publicity secretary replied, “I am just hearing this from you. I cannot be too sure that your facts are right.
“I have not heard it from any other place. I have no further comment at the moment until I get details. But I want to say categorically, that there is no division within the National Working Committee on any matter at the moment.
“Contrary to insinuation, we are not in any crisis.”
Investigations also revealed that plum committees like the Committee on Appropriation might go to the North-West.
As lawmakers intensified scrambling for committee positions, The PUNCH learnt that a powerful legislator from the North-West, who campaigned vigorously for Tambuwal’s emergence, was angling to be chairman of the committee on appropriations.
Sources close to the Selection Committee chaired by Tambuwal, confided in THE PUNCH that many ‘ranking’ lawmakers were lobbying to head top committees like Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream); Committee on Gas Resources; Committee on House Services; and Committee on Defence.
These committees and others like Committee on Finance, Committee on Education, Banking and Currency, Committee on Customs and Committee on Communications are perceived by lawmakers to be “juicy”, a reason which explains the alleged scheming for their membership.
A source close to the leadership confirmed to one of our correspondents on Monday that members were being considered for the committees but declined to speak on the likely chairmen.
He said, “The Selection Committee has been working; they are working on the various committees and picking members.
“As for the chairmen, I don’t know anything about that; I can’t speak on that.”
By John Ameh and Fidelis Soriwei Courtesy Of: Punch
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