Former
Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress,
APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is leaving no one in doubt that he calls the shots in
the party as he has penciled down his key men to lead the new National
Assembly, NASS, to be inaugurated early June.
With the
party’s power sharing formula, Tinubu has positioned his men to takeover
available positions zoned to the regions.
APC zoned
the Senate Presidency to the North-Central, Speakership to the South-West,
Tinubu’s region, which also produced the Vice President, the Secretary to
Government of the Federation, SGF to the South-East and the Senate Majority
Leader to the South-West.
Going by
the zoning arrangement, the battle on how to fill the vacancies has started in
earnest with Tinubu said to have lined up three strong contenders to take over
the leadership of the 8th NASS.
He is
alleged to be backing Senator George Akume, former Benue State Governor and
long time political ally from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN to be
the Senate President.
In the
same vein, Tinubu is backing Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, his political protégé to
take over as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, while at the same
time positioning his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to be the Senate Majority
Leader.
Though he
is said to be facing stiff opposition from those backers of Senator Bukola
Saraki, mainly from the party’s governors, Nigerian Pilot learnt that he is
playing a religious card in pushing the candidature of Akume and Gbajabiamila.
Tinubu’s
argument, it was gathered, is that if Saraki is allowed to be Senate President,
and Hon. Gbajabiamila becomes the Speaker, it would open the party to
criticisms given the fact that the President-elect is a Muslim and both Saraki
and Gbajabiamila are also Muslims.
According
to Tinubu’s argument, the religious balancing would come only when the Senate
president is a Christian and the natural choice is Akume.
The
former Lagos governor also allegedly blackmailed Saraki’s backers with a case
of N21billion preferred against the former governor of Kwara State by the
Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police.
He
purportedly told them that the party cannot be championing anti-corruption and
at the same time promoting someone who has such a “dirty” case still hanging on
his neck.
This,
according to insiders, has ruffled many feathers in the APC hierarchy with many
afraid the party may slide into a one-man show.
The
zoning of Speakership to the South-West, it is understood, has caused a
friction between Tinubu and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the party’s national
chairman, who had passionately pleaded that the party zone the slot to the
South-South in order for his preferred candidate, Mr. Pally Iriase, from Edo
State to get the office.
For all
Odigie-Oyegun’s pleas, Tinubu reminded him how he also went against the wishes
of many and installed him as the APC chairman.
With the
Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo being Tinubu’s ally, Odigie-Oyegun’s
argument is that it would amount to unexplainable greed for the party to allow
Tinubu to also take the Speakership slot.
However,
Tinubu is understood to have stood his ground, threatening to throw the Speakership
position open to contest, a position he well understands he would have upper
hand because of the number of House of Representatives members from the
South-West as compared to Odigie-Oyegun’s South-South.
If Tinubu
bulldozes his way through as he is bent on doing, it means that he would have
been responsible for three of the four most powerful positions in Nigeria.
He
singlehandedly nominated the vice president-elect.
Meanwhile,
the zoning of the SGF to the South-East has opened a fresh battle on who
succeeds Chief Anyim Pius Anyim between Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and Dr. Chris Ngige,
all former governors and eminently qualified for the office.
Insiders
in the party are favouring Onu, arguing that he is more of a stabiliser,
tilting towards a technocrat than Ngige who is seen as an everyday politician.
Onu’s
maturity and for the fact that he comes from the All Nigeria Peoples Party,
ANPP wing of the APC, may stand him in good stead ahead of Ngige who comes from
the ACN wing of the party.
ANPP has
not really benefitted much in terms of sharing positions in the party and if it
is still denied this, it may cause great disaffection in the party.
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