As the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) awaits the return to the country of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there are strong indications that, in his immediate political enclave, his close allies are enmeshed in a cold war over conflict of interest.
The conflict, it was gathered, stems from the
squabble for positions as well as preferences as scheming for prominence gains
momentum ahead of the inauguration of the incoming administration.
According to an impeccable source, the issue
came to the fore last week when pseudo-campaigners heightened their game for
the secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, James Faleke, to be
appointed the chief of staff to Tinubu.
Before now, there had been unrefuted
speculations that the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, had been positioned for the plum job currently occupied by
Professor Ibrahim Gambari.
The struggle for the CoS position between the
duo, according to the source, has also snowballed to colour the race for the
speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.
Aside from Gbajabiamila and Faleke, other close
allies of the president-elect who have stepped up efforts are the current
minister of special duties and inter-governmental affairs, George Akume, and
the outgoing governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai. Both are in the race for
the position of secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), according
to the source.
“The issues around positions are too numerous
to mention to the public because all those involved are just playing to the
gallery and deceiving their followers as if all is well among those of us who
are close to the president-elect.
“As we speak, there is no love lost between
Gbajabiamila and Faleke because both are deeply involved in the race to be
chief of staff. If you observe, both were playing the game quietly initially.
“But when Faleke saw that Gbajabiamila was
already seeing himself as chief of staff in waiting, Faleke had to up his game,
too. Lately, you can see that he has been sponsoring some groups to also
canvass for him.
“Not only that, they have taken the fight to
the issue of speakership in the forthcoming 10th House of Representatives. Even
though he has denied it on the surface, everyone knows that Gbaja is supporting
and canvassing for Tajudeen Abbas.
“And as a counter-force, Faleke has cleverly
refrained from openly supporting any aspirant but waiting for the party to zone
so that he can use his supporters to go against whoever Gbaja supports. So, it
is a waiting game for the two of them and it will be very interesting unless
the leader wades in,” the source said.
Meanwhile, a convener of one of the campaign
pressure groups, National Consciousness Movement, Ibrahim Gidado, has vowed to
mobilise House of Representatives members to vote against Abbas whom he
described as “a tool for Gbajabiamila”.
Gidado said the speaker’s move is being
anchored by the chairman, House Committee on Defence, Jimi Benson, and his
counterpart in the NDDC Committee, Bunmi Tunji Ojo.
Gidado dismissed last week’s meeting between
the speaker and all speakership aspirants as ‘a ruse and smokescreen’.
The aspirants who held the in-house meeting
with Gbajabiamila were Deputy Speaker Idris Wase; chairman, House Committee on
Appropriation, Aliyu Betara; chairman, Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi; chairman,
Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu; chairman, Committee on
Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbas; chairman, Committee on Disaster Preparedness,
Abdulraheem Olawuyi; chairman, Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; and
Makki Yalleman and Sani Jaji.
Gidado believes Gbajabiamila is playing a
behind-the-scene scheme to control the lower chamber.
“How can the outgoing speaker insist he must
install someone as speaker as his stooge? Does he want to have another term? As
far as the north is concerned, the current speaker will not be allowed to
install his choice on us because that will be an insult.
“What is most painful is that the speaker has
been calling some freshers, telling them that they must go with Tajudeen Abbas
as speaker and that they must leave whoever they are working for. This is
uncalled for as a leader. There are several members who are qualified to lead
the House, not only Abbas.
“We know that he has stationed his cronies to
be the arrowheads of the Abbas campaign. Is that not enough? Why is he now
demarketing others because he wants to have total control of the House even
after his tenure as speaker?
“As we watch events, those of us from the
north are of the opinion that in the next one or two weeks, we should call a
meeting and explore means to stop Gbaja from imposing a speaker in us. We have
many options at hand and we will unleash them once he comes out openly from his
hiding place,” he said.
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