As Betara unsettles party leadership, G5 accuse Gbajabiamila of betrayal
As the battle for who occupies choice offices in the forthcoming 10th National Assembly hots up, gladiators in the Senate and the House of Representatives are working all round the clock to undo one another in an effort to clinch the office of the Senate President and that of the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
In the House of Representatives, contests for the positions of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 10th House have pitched the Majority ruling All Progressives Party, APC against an alliance of all the minority Reps elect tagged Greater Majority.
Tajudeen Abass, a Reps member from Kaduna State has been endorsed by the All Progressives Congress while the Greater Majority coalition was backing a Borno State member, current Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara (APC/Borno)
For Hon. Abass, his adoption as the party’s preferred candidate is not yet a fait acompli as he faces stiff opposition from other aspirants within the party led by incumbent Deputy Speaker of the house, Hon. Abdulahi Wase, Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa and a pocket of other aspirants.
Aliyu Betara, amidst reports of the zoning plan released by the NWC of the APC, officially declared his speakership bid in Abuja, at the declaration ceremony were co-aspirants who had formed a group to move against the APC aspirants.
Members of the group, according to the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, are the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa; Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; and a former member of the House who is now member-elect, Sani Jaji; and Betara.
However, another front-runner in the speakership race, Yusuf Gagdi, was in attendance. A photograph showing the five aspirants together with Gagdi later emerged online.
Wase said, “We will work as a team. We will not allow this parliament to be disgraced. We will not allow this parliament to be hijacked. We will not allow this parliament to be made a lame duck. I believe we are loyal to our country first, loyal to our party, loyal to our people.
“Like my Leader (Doguwa) did mention when you say you have a consensus candidate, the language for consensus is very simple; it means that you have had a massive consultation, people were brought to the table for discussion and there is an agreement. But in this case, we just saw and we are hearing rumours, speculations that some people have been made consensus candidates. I don’t know whether that is the meaning of consensus.
“I am a democrat. I came into the parliament in 2007 and by the grace of God I am into my fifth term, and I give glory to God. This place is very sacred. It is honourable and that is why we are called honourable members. We must be honourable in our dealings, actions, and activities in defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We have agreed that we will all work together, the five of us.”
In his remarks, Betara said he was shocked that Gbajabiamila did not nominate one of the House leaders and key members of the House to be the next Speaker. According to him, many current members of the chamber do not know Abbas.
Betara partly said, “We are one family. We are moving as a group to get back to the institution. As the engine room of the legislature, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila gave me a name. He calls me the Head Boy. I was surprised that my friend, my boss, nominated one person outside of all of us here.
“If today the Deputy Speaker of the House is contesting, the Chairman (of the Committee on) Appropriation is contesting, the Majority Leader is contesting, then who is closer to the speaker? Nobody! He is picking one person that members of the 9th Assembly – some of us – even don’t know.
Wase and Gagdi are from Plateau State in the North-Central; Betara is from Borno State in the North-East; Soli is from Katsina State in the North-West, while Jaji is from Zamfara State also in the North-West.
Wase, who spoke at Betara’s declaration, after some aspirants had spoken, said, ‘’We are here for the very reasons enumerated by Sada (Soli), to ensure the independence of the parliament, to ensure that we work as a family. What we are witnessing today, we have never seen that kind of moment in the parliament and that is why every parliamentarian must rise to the occasion; to defend that institution, to ensure we do the right thing.”
The Deputy Speaker noted that the G-4 had become G-5, with the “additional one finger that we had, that is Hon Ado Doguwa.”
So also, many lawmakers-elect are pulling out of the ‘10th Assembly – Greater Majority’, a coalition of Peoples Democratic Party and other minority parties with elected members in the 10th House.
The aggrieved opposition members, including those from Rivers State, who are loyal to Governor Nyesom Wike, are scheduled to launch a parallel minorities’ coalition to be known as the Minority Parties’ Forum.
The new development came as the 10th Assembly: Greater Majority, planned to unveil aspirants for the positions of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker in the opposition camp this week.
The coalition had on May 2, 2023, declared that it would ultimately field candidates for the offices of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker from among its ranks.
According to Hon. Iduma Igariwey Enwo member representing Afikpo North/Afikpo South federal constituency “It is actually another group in the minority caucus. Greater Minority is not our slogan. It is still the same group but the only difference is that we are trying to reposition the group. It is still the same group of minorities being populated by the same people.”
When asked about leaders and members of the Greater Majority who have been attending meetings by the Joint Task – 10th Assembly, a coalition of members-elect of the APC and opposition parties which has adopted the zoning plan of the ruling party, Igariwey said, “We are going to have our meeting tomorrow. We will come out with something like a communiqué with which you will be better informed about it.”
Ogene (LP/Anambra), who speaks for the 10th Assembly: Greater Majority, was contacted on the number of aspirants in the opposition coalition who had indicated an interest in the speakership race as well as the emergence of another group.
He, however, referred The Punch correspondent to the coordinators of the group, Messrs Fred Agbedi (PDP/Bayelsa), Jonathan Gbefwi (SDP/Nasarawa) and Dachung Bagos (PDP/Plateau).
The battle for who occupies the Senate President’s chair is not yet uhuru for APC’s anointed candidate, Godswill Akpabio as he battles to make his dream a reality.
Among other contenders for the position are current Chief Whip and top flight businessman, Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State from the South East and Ahmed Yari, also a former governor of Zamfara State from the North West.
Alhaji Bala Ibrahim, the Director of Publicity of the APC, while reacting to the development said the ruling party was not losing sleep over the brewing rebellion in both chambers of the National Assembly against the party’s candidates.
Ibrahim noted that the beauty of democracy is that it allows disagreement, adding that the position of the APC was taken to foster unity in the interest of the country.
He said, “There is no cause for alarm. As I said, we are in a democracy where freedom of expression is guaranteed. The party only advised based on the doctrine of fairness, equity and fair play.
“These positions are assigned to those regions or sections of the country to give everyone a semblance of good sense of belonging, to ban religious, tribal and sectional sentiments. It is not saying there will be no election on the day of the inauguration. There will be an election. But the hope of the party is that it will go in tandem with its recommendation.”
According to him, the opposition is doing what is expected and the ruling party still has the power of majority to its advantage.
An indication of crack in the rank of the Greater Majority came to the fore recently as a member-elect of the House, Amobi Ogah (LP/Abia), while addressing journalists in Abuja called on his colleagues to support the consensus candidate of the APC for Speaker.
Ogah said, “Hon. Abbas has shown more competence and character which has given him an edge to be a preferred aspirant to others. As a politician, he is not doing money politics like others, which is part of what my leader, Mr Peter Obi, of the labour party preaches. He is just a replica of Obi and that is more reason I am supporting him and calling on other of my colleagues to do the same.”
With reports from THE PUNCH
