Ahead of Tuesday’s inauguration of the 10th National Assembly and election of presiding officers, there is apprehension in the camp of Senator Godswill Akpabio, the favoured candidate of President Bola Tinubu for the post of the President of the Senate.
This is just as a credible source said a vote
in the Senate chamber, on Tuesday, may “trade for between $5,000 and $10,000 or
even more.”
Indeed, the source said some of the
senators-elect have started playing double game, collecting dollars from the
two contending camps and signing up for them.
The source, a member of the Stability Group,
the platform campaigning for the Akpabio-Barau Jibrin ticket confided in
Saturday Tribune that some of the senators-elect who professed to be working
for the Stability Group are playing double game, as they also attend nocturnal
meetings of the main rival of Senator Akpabio, the senator-elect for Zamfara
West, Abdul Aziz Yari.
The source revealed that some of the
lawmakers who appended their signatures on the list of Akpabio supporters have
also pledged loyalty to the camp of Senator Yari.
He said: “I don’t know what is happening on
the other side but I am aware that some people who claim to be with us have
also signed for Yari. I am saddened that senators are selling signatures for
between $5,000 and $10,000. They are not asking Yari what he has to offer; they
are only interested in his money,” the lawmaker lamented.
The source said the Stability Group would
still continue to reach out to many senators to secure their buy-in for the
Akpabio-Jibrin ticket
Consultations continue
Indication has emerged that Akpabio’s main
rival, Yari, who has vowed not to step down for the favoured choice of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), has continued with consultations.
Checks revealed that the former Zamfara State
governor has since secured commitment of some opposition lawmakers in the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples
Party (NNPP).
It was also gathered that despite the
intervention of a former governor of Kano State and NNPP presidential
candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, the senators-elect on his party’s platform are in
league with Senator Yari.
During the week, the senator-elect for Kano
South Suleiman Kawu (NNPP), decried the zoning template of the ruling APC and
announcement of favoured candidates.
Kawu told newsmen that he and his colleagues
were determined to frustrate what he called the plot to impose the presidency’s
anointed candidates on the legislature.
Labour Party disowns members over Akpabio,
Abbas
Four days to the election of the presiding
officers of the National Assembly, the Labour Party has rejected a claim by two
of its House of Representatives members-elect, Honourables Amobi Ogah and Obi
Aguocha.
The lawmakers had declared support for the
APC zoning template and the ruling party’s favoured candidates for the
leadership of the National Assembly
The National Publicity Secretary of the LP,
Obiorah Ifoh, in a statement on Friday, declared that the lawmakers expressed
their personal opinion, contrary to the stance of the party.
Ifoh said: “As individuals, the lawmakers do
not have the mandate to speak for the party and therefore cannot claim to be
standing on the platform of the Labour Party to speak, giving views that are
diametrically opposed to ideals which the Labour Party stands for.”
The LP spokesman warned “the two lawmakers
and, by extension, any other member elected on the platform of the Labour Party
who chose to walk outside the agreed position and ideals of the party to desist
from such trajectory and vain glory.”
The statement reads in part: “The attention
of the leadership of the Labour Party has been drawn to interviews granted by
two of our House of Representatives members-elect, Hon. Amobi Ogah and Hon. Obi
Aguocha wherein they expressed their satisfaction with the leadership of
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the zoning formula of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, on the leadership of the 10th Assembly.
“The members-elect had, in their different
interviews, said that they alongside some of their colleagues have “agreed to
go towards government and party decision” on the zoning of the leadership of
the National Assembly.
“Although as newly elected lawmakers on the
platform of the Labour Party, the members-elect made the utterances which are
clearly within their rights as individuals as enshrined in the laws of the
land, the party has a view quite different from what the honourable members
were quoted to have said.
“As individuals, the lawmakers do not have
the mandate to speak for the party and therefore cannot claim to be standing on
the platform of the Labour Party to speak, giving views that are diametrically
opposed to ideals for which Labour Party stands.
“Labour Party is presently in the tribunal
hoping to retrieve our mandate which was expressively given to our presidential
candidate on February 25 and every testament emanating from the tribunal points
to the fact that Labour Party clearly won the election but was robbed. We have
remained resolute in our belief that justice will be done and so soon.
“For the record, Labour Party has nothing
against the personality of President Tinubu, but we are challenging both the
process and final outcome of the presidential election. We, as a party, insist
that the route to His Excellency must be excellent and anything other than that
amounts to a mockery of democracy.
“We therefore caution the two lawmakers and,
by extension, any other member elected on the platform of the Labour Party who
chose to walk outside the agreed position and ideals of the party to desist
from such trajectory and vain glory.
“The party has given clear directives and
will not condone any of its members who will not subsume to the supremacy of
the party. We therefore demand that the affected lawmakers retrace their steps
and tender unreserved apologies to the leadership of the party.”
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