Battle For NASS Leadership Splits APC; El-Rufai, Tinubu Clash

Funke AzeezApril 1, 2019

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The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is said to have broken into different camps ahead of the inauguration of the incoming ninth assembly, in a bid to enthrone new leadership of both the upper and lower legislative chambers.

The move, is part of an underground plot to curtail the desperation of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the party, to install his loyalists Femi Gbajabiamila and Ahmed Lawan as Reps Speaker and Senate President, respectively.

Sources privy to the move told Igbere TV that loyalists of Tinubu now have some other faction being led by the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai to contend with in the build up to the inauguration of the 9th assembly.

Our source disclosed that the faction led by El-Rufai, are being sponsored by some state governors and a number of ministers who are opposed to the planned takeover of the national assembly by Tinubu in preparation for his perceived 2023 presidential contest.

It was gathered that, while the team opposed to Tinubu may not fight the choice of Ahmed Lawan as Senate President, they are already plotting to scuttle the chances of the South-West producing the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The source also revealed that El-Rufai had already met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the weekend, warning him of inevitable consequence of allowing Tinubu to install his loyalists in the National Assembly.

The move by El-Rufai who has also been rumoured to be nurturing a secret agenda of becoming the party’s flag bearer in 2023, our source said, is to ensure that Tinubu does not scuttle his plan of becoming president.

It was also learnt that there is a cold war in the camp of the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, who is said to be working in sync with the Tinubu camp.

However, investigation revealed that Oshiomhole has a personal agenda to enthrone a South-South person into the position of Deputy Senate President, a move our source said is threatening to put him in conflict with Tinubu, who he said is secretly plotting to install his wife, Remi into the position.

The Oshiomhole-led APC, Igbere TV gathered, is moving to zone the position of DSP to the South-South on the pretext that the South-West had produced the Vice President.

However, our source said that the Oshiomhole camp is already divided over what he described as the autocratic nature of the party chairman.

While some members of the camp were said to be working towards frustrating his plan, others are pushing for a secret ballot system to elect the new national assembly leadership where no one would monitor whom they vote for.