APC NWC to allow free contest for National Assembly leadership positions

How the ruling party’s decision-making organ clashed with its lawmakers-elect over the top positions in the 10th parliament

Patrick OdeyMay 18, 2023

4 minutes read

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has decided to let its lawmakers-elect compete for the top positions in the 10th National Assembly.

The party had earlier announced its preferred candidates for the Senate presidency, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Deputy Speaker.

However, the party’s zoning arrangement sparked discontent among some lawmakers-elect who had expressed their interest in vying for the principal offices. Sources told Vanguard on Wednesday that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) is worried that its zoning plan may be sabotaged, and it is suggesting to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, that the contest be open to all.

The APC NWC is the highest decision-making organ of the party. It is supposed to oversee the affairs of the party and ensure its unity and cohesion. The NWC had chosen Senator Godswill Akpabio (South-South) as its consensus candidate for Senate presidency and Senator Jibrin Barau (North West) as the favoured candidate for Deputy Senate President. The NWC had also picked Tajudeen Abbas (North West) as its consensus candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives and Benjamin Kalu (South East) as the preferred candidate for Deputy Speaker.

The NWC’s zoning arrangement was based on regional balance and loyalty to the party. The NWC had also claimed that it had the endorsement of Bola Tinubu, who is widely regarded as the leader and godfather of the party.

However, some lawmakers-elect were not happy with the NWC’s zoning plan. They felt that they were being sidelined and disrespected by the NWC. They also argued that they had the right to choose their leaders based on merit and competence, not on imposition or favouritism.

This lawmakers-elect formed a group known as the G-6 aspirants. The G-6 aspirants included Senator Ali Ndume (North East) and Senator Danjuma Goje (North East) for Senate presidency; Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (South South) and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (South East) for Deputy Senate President; Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (South West) and Hon. Mohammed Bago (North Central) for Speaker of the House of Representatives; Hon. Idris Wase (North Central) and Hon. John Dyegh (North Central) for Deputy Speaker.

The G-6 aspirants vowed to challenge the NWC’s zoning arrangement and to mobilize support from their colleagues across party lines. They also alleged that the NWC was trying to manipulate the National Assembly leadership election by bribing, intimidating and blackmailing lawmakers-elect to vote for its preferred candidates.

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The NWC, on its part, denied any wrongdoing and insisted that it was acting in the best interest of the party and the country. The NWC warned that any lawmaker-elect who defied its zoning arrangement would face disciplinary action and sanctions from the party.

The NWC also tried to persuade and pacify some of the G-6 aspirants by offering them alternative positions or incentives. However, some of them rejected these offers and remained adamant on their ambition.

As a result, the National Assembly leadership contest became a fierce and bitter battle between the NWC and the G-6 aspirants. The contest also exposed the cracks and divisions within the APC and threatened its stability and cohesion.

The contest also raised questions about the role and influence of Bola Tinubu in the APC. Some observers wondered whether Tinubu was really behind the NWC’s zoning plan or whether he was secretly supporting some of the G-6 aspirants. Some also speculated that Tinubu was using his power to position himself for his alleged presidential ambition in 2023.

Another source told Vanguard that the G-6 speakership aspirants might have settled to pick a deputy speaker from the South-South geo-political zone.

He said: “Secondly, they have got concrete information that the G-6 is going to the South-South to pick their deputy.”

Also speaking, a lawmaker-elect said the party leadership needs to quickly address the zoning arrangement in order not to allow the issue to fester into a party crisis.

The APC chieftain also revealed that there is credible intelligence that the aggrieved aspirants who have formed the G-6 are already in an alliance with the opposition parties.

He said: “There are issues and they need to be confronted because the more we delay in solving the issues once and for all, the more we keep on having fresh ones.

“For instance, we have credible intelligence that the aggrieved aspirants who have formed the G-6 are already in an alliance with the opposition parties.

“Initially, we thought it was not going to work but we gathered credible information that they swore to themselves not to betray one another and went ahead to concede the deputy speakership slot to the opposition parties.

“We first considered it an act of indiscipline and anti-party but in a second thought, we needed to be smart to throw the contest open to all aspirants. Whoever wins at every point is after all a party man.

“Some suggested that they should be sanctioned but we looked at the bigger picture because we must learn from experience as party administrators. What are the consequences for those aspirants? And what are those consequences on the party as a whole?

“So, the message the party chairman gave to Senator Akpabio and his team when they visited was a coded message. It is left for them to decode it because it is difficult to do another rejoinder to repudiate what we had said earlier on zoning.

“More importantly, our initial thought was that the aggrieved aspirants would quickly adopt someone amongst them but they are also smart enough not to do so for now.”