The Federal lawmakers belonging to the All Progressives Congress, have continued to revolt against their party on the appointment of principal officers into the House pf Representatives.
On Wednesday, June 24, Speaker, Yusuf Dogara refused to read out a letter from the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, on the nomination of four members as House Leader, Deputy Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip.
The party had written the speaker putting forward Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (South-West) as House Leader, Mohammed Monguno (North-East) as Chief Whip; Alhassan Doguro (North-West) as Deputy Leader; and Pally Iriase (South-East) as Deputy Whip.
Some of the caucuses left out, like the North-Central and South-East, were upset by the party’s nominations, which took them out of the equation.
Hence, more party members and state caucuses disregarded the stance of the APC and paid allegiance to Dogara, and align with his actions as Speaker.
The North-West, which had always backed Gbajabiamila, in his ambition to become Speaker, were said to have declined to support him this time around.
The North-West members, were against the fact that the South-West would have two principal positions; Deputy Speaker and House Leader, while two other geopolitical zones are left without any principal office position.
A source privy to the happenings within the inner caucuses of the APC, revealed to Vanguard that any hope of Gbajabiamila becoming House Leader, appears to be dim.
“Those who were backing him have seen reality and many of them are now going behind him to pledge loyalty to the speaker. Even more, many of them are saying that it is not possible for his zone to get two positions while the South-South and South-East get nothing. Many members are now faced with the stark reality that committee positions are about to be shared, and members want to get favourable positions.”
