QuickRead: APC’s adoption of Akpabio, others for NASS leadership. Four other stories we tracked and why they matter

The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee last week nominated the former Minister of Niger Delta, Godwill Akpabio, and three others for the National Assembly leadership.

This and four other stories we tracked dominated public discourse last week.

1. APC’s adoption of Akpabio, others for NASS leadership

On May 8, the ruling party nominated Akpabio as the Senate President.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, said the party’s NWC also settled for the Senator representing Kano North Senatorial District, Barau Jibrin, as the Deputy Senate President.

The party equally chose the lawmaker representing Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, Abbas Tajudeen, as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the current House spokesman, Benjamin Kalu, as the deputy.

Morka said: “The National Working Committee of the APC met today, Monday, May 8, 2023, to consider reports of consultations and meetings held with the president-elect, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, other party leaders and stakeholders on zoning arrangements for 10th National Assembly leadership positions.
“The NWC noted with respect to the outcome of the meetings held between the president-elect and the leadership of the NWC.”

Why it matters

The skewed zoning arrangement is the product of high-level politicking that followed the election of the lawmakers on February 25 with some individuals desperate to gain a foothold on the yet-to-be-constituted parliament.

The decision to zone the National Assembly leadership positions at the behest of individuals perceived to be close to the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, or worked for his victory in the presidential election amounts to an entitlement mentality and thus breeds distrust and needless suspicion in the party.

The resentments that trailed the adoption of the National Assembly leadership has therefore reinforced the call for the lawmakers to choose their principal officers, with zoning becoming a divisive concept and having the potential to stoke ethnic tension in the parliament and perhaps the country as a whole.

2. Supreme Court upholds Adeleke’s election

The Supreme Court on May 9 upheld Senator Ademola Adeleke’s victory in the July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun.

A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice John Okoro dismissed an appeal filed by the immediate past governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola.

Justice Emmanuel Agim, who read the lead judgement, said: “It is the record in the BIVAS machines that can prove the number of accredited voters in a polling unit and nothing else.
“The appellant had a primary burden to prove the fact asserted by them in their petition. It is obvious that the appellants’ case collapsed.”

Why it matters

The Supreme Court’s ruling has effectively ended all the postulations on the Osun governorship poll.

The apex court also set the precedent for the ongoing petitions filed by the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election with its declaration that no law requires presiding officers to transmit by Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) the number of accredited voters or accreditation of the polls to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database or backend server.

It equally reaffirmed the importance of BVAS and other initiatives by INEC in the efforts to improve the sanctity of the country’s electoral process.

3. Senate probe of unathorised spending in NDDC

Senate on May 9 set up an ad hoc committee to investigate alleged unauthorised spending by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on its 2021 and 2022 budget estimates.

READ ALSO:QuickRead: Buhari’s gloating on presidential election. Four other stories we tracked and why they matter

The upper legislative chamber also stood down consideration of the report of the commission’s 2023 budget estimates.

This followed the adoption of a motion presented by the Senator representing Kebbi Central District, Adamu Alero, at the plenary.

The former Kebbi State governor had in his presentation alleged unauthorised spending by NDDC on its 2021, 2022, and 2023 budget estimates.

In his remark, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said: “We are faced with a situation where expenditure was done probably for more than six months or probably 80 percent of the expenditure has been done and we need to know what has happened.”

Why it matters

Repeated promises without appropriate and timely actions have allowed successive heads of the interventionist agency to get away with their actions without punishment.

The Federal Government’s silence or politicization of measures taken to address corruption in the NDDC, including the forensic audit more than two years after its completion clearly shows that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration lacks the will to deal with the rot in commission.

4. Atiku on PDP’s slide

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on May 11 counseled the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on measures to take in a bid to regain its dominant position in Nigeria and Africa.

Atiku, who was the PDP presidential candidate in the February 25 election, spoke at a reception for the party’s newly- elected governors in Abuja.

He said: “We have a number of challenges. We started as a dominant political party in 1999 and since then, we have been receding.
“I think it is time for us to take stock and find out why we are receding and how can we make sure that our eminent position as the leading political party in this country, as the oldest political party in this country, we regain our position.
“This is a very important challenge which I think requires a whole day seminar for us as a party to ensure that we regain our eminent position in the politics of this country and the whole of Africa.”

Why it matters

The former Vice President’s remark speaks to the party’s steady decline from the highs of 1999 to its crushing defeat in the last three general elections in the country.

The fall of the party that once prided itself as Africa’s biggest from was due largely to the inability of the leaders to manage the success of the previous years, culminating in the gale of defections that hit the party before the 2015 election.

The failure of PDP leaders to manage internal crises or rein in their egos that cost the party its best chance of regaining power since 2015 in the last general elections.

5. British court to hear Kanu’s case

A Court of Appeal in Britain on May 8 the family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, the go-ahead to challenge a ruling on his extraordinary rendition from Kenya two years ago.

Kanu, who is standing trial on charges of treasonable felony and terrorism at the Federal High Court, Abuja, was brought back to the country in June 2021.

Lord Justice Lewis granted the request while ruling on an application filed by the IPOB leader’s younger brother, Kingsley Kalu.

He said: “The grounds of appeal raise important issues concerning the scope of the obligations on the respondent in relation to requests for consular assistance in respect of British nationals detained abroad and the proper interpretation and application of the decision of the Court of Appeal in R(Abassi) v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office [2003] UKHRR 76.”

Why it matters

A quick resolution of the impasse surrounding Kanu’s detention and extraordinary rendition from Kenya will surely bode well for all, especially the people of the restive South-East who are the biggest victims of the face-off between the Nigerian government and the separatist group.

This, therefore, makes it imperative for President Buhari to rethink the decision to keep Kanu in prison and explore a political solution to IPOB’s agitation before handing over to his successor in about two weeks.

By Ahmed Shobiye

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