NASS crisis: Tambuwal panel yields stalemate

Efforts to have the member representing Surulere Federal Constituency 1 in the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila emerge as Majority Leader following the concession of the position by members loyal to Speaker Yakubu Dogara is yet materialize as a common ground is yet to be reached.

The concession had followed a meeting Tuesday night between the Speaker and some members of the House, with the immediate past Speaker and current governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal in Abuja.

Tambuwal had been empowered by All Progressives Congress (APC) governors after their meeting last week to mediate and resolve the crisis in the House over the emergence of Dogara as speaker against Gbajabiamila, backed by the party’s leadership.

While it seemed a done deal for Gbajabiamila, lawmakers in Dogara’s group are insisting that equity and fair play should be the dominant consideration on the issue of principal officers of the House.

“There was a consensus that in order to achieve peace and accommodation in the House, the position of the House Leader be conceded to the Gbajabiamila Group to nominate a candidate, but the insistence on the Lagos lawmaker by the party leadership is being constrained by the constitutional requirement for equitable representation and federal character as the South-West, where he hails from has already produced the Deputy Speaker,” a source at the meeting said.

Read also: Oshiomhole, Tambuwal head panels on APC crisis

The Gbajabimaila group, at its meeting with Tambuwal, had restated its stance that the decision of the APC on the allocation of the offices must stand. The party had written to the Speaker that the South-West should produce the Majority Leader; North-West, Deputy Leader; North-East, Chief Whip; and South-South, Deputy Whip.

However, the spokesman for the Dogara group, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, who confirmed the concession to the Gbajabiamila group, said it was premised on the agreement that neither the South-West nor the North-East would take the position.

Jibrin added that in the event the Gbajabiamila group did not accept the concession, all the APC caucuses in the House would go for an election to decide who becomes the Majority Leader as well as other principal officers.

“The entire APC members would hold an election to elect the House leaders. If someone says he has 174 members, fine; let us hold an election and see if he actually has that majority he claims,” Jibrin told a news conference.

Meanwhile, an offer to Gbajabiamila to head the AdHoc Committee on Constitution Review in place of being the Majority Leader was reportedly turned down by the former Minority Leader, it was gathered.

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