N’Assembly crisis: APC peace talks deadlocked

Efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to resolve the lingering leadership crisis in the House of Representatives have suffered yet another setback as a meeting between the feuding factions of the lawmakers and an ad hoc reconciliation committee, chaired by Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, to resolve the crisis ended in a deadlock.

It was learnt yesterday that the ad hoc committee met separately on Tuesday night with the two groups, led by House Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and former Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, respectively during which they remained adamant on their positions.

According to sources, while the Dogara group shifted ground by conceding the position of House Majority Leader to the Gbajabiamila group, but with a proviso that it must not be filled by the South- West and the North-East that have already produced the speaker and the deputy, the other group rejected the concession. In rejecting the list of principal officers from the party, the Dogara group restated its argument for the need to adhere strictly to the federal character principle in the sharing of the offices.

On its part, the Gbajabiamila group insisted on the sanctity of the APC list in which the former minority leader, from South- West, was tipped to emerge the majority leader while Hon. Mohammed Monguno, from the North-East, as his deputy. New Telegraph learnt that due to the lack of consensus between the two groups on the way forward, they might resort to an election to be conducted amongst all.

The source said the position of the Dogara group was informed by the fact that “considering the constitutional requirement of equitable representation and federal character, such a candidate should be from any zone other than the North-East and South-West zones that had already produced the speaker and deputy speaker respectively.

“Members were also said to have taken a stand that where the concession of the position of House leader does not resolve the matter, then emergence of the principal officers be resolved through free and fair election in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House and established precedents”.

Confirming the development, spokesman for the Dogara group, Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin (APC, Kano), said they both met with Tambuwal.

“Concessions were made completely against the original plan that we went to the meeting with. We went to the meeting and you have always known our position, we believe that we did not go against any provisions of the laws of the party or the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in electing the speaker or his deputy.

“We also believe that there should be level playing ground for everyone in terms of the occupation of the remaining offices of principal officers; that has always been our position. But after a very lengthy meeting with His Excellency, the immediate past speaker and governor of Sokoto State, we were able to make a far-reaching concession and this is to allow for peace to reign in the House.

“It was very tough and of course the wise counsel of governor of Sokoto on the need for a concession on peace informed our decision to shift ground. Three things were agreed on. One, we maintain the position that we do not recognise the letter written by the party in quotes and I’ll give you reasons.

“We have utmost respect for the chairman of the party, but that letter did not pass through the relevant organs of the party. It was neither approved by the National Working Committee, the National Executive Council, not even the Caucus was consulted and it was a product of one of two governors and, of course, the national chairman. “Let me maintain the fact that we respect the national chairman and we will only respect a letter through legal organs of the party. Our position is that we do not recognise the existence of such a letter.

Secondly, the principal officers of the House must be in tandem with the principle of equity and federal character as prescribed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The six positions that are usually occupied by the majority, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, House Leader, Deputy House Leader, the Whip and Deputy Whip must go to the six geo-political zones.

In other words, it must reflect the principle of equity and fairness and to that end after the deliberation, we have agreed to concede the position of the House Leader to the Femi’s (Gbajabiamila) group and we took this decision, bearing in mind that we need peace in this House and we want to get down to work.

“We expect the Femi group to accept this concession so that we can be able to move forward. In the event that they do not accept, we also provided that it should be left for us to choose principal officers of the House in line with the standing rules of the House; so we have to come back and hold an election.

The entire APC members would hold an election to elect the House leaders. If someone says he has 174 members; fine, let’s hold an election in line with the standing rules of the House and that is our position,” he stated.

However, the Gbajabiamila group’s spokesman, Hon. Rufai Chachangi (APC, Kaduna) gave a different account of the proceedings of the meeting. He denied that the position of leader was ceded to their group, but taken away from the South-West.

He said: “We, the 174 APC Loyalists Group of the House, are aware that there was a private discussion between Governor Aminu Tambuwal and President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday evening at the State House. Also, we are aware that Governor Tambuwal briefed the press that there would be a meeting between him and Speaker Dogara’s group same day.

“To the best of our knowledge, no counteroffer has been made to the APC Loyalists Group after her first meeting with Tambuwal peace committee wherein the APC Loyalists clearly stated that in line with party supremacy and the resolution reached at the last APC NEC meeting, the position of the party on Femi Gbajabiamila as the House Leader is nonnegotiable.

“We understand that the Dogara group is now playing the zoning card after same group had hitherto before the speakership election of June 9, 2015, rejected the zoning formula of the party prior to the mock election. Interestingly, the six geopolitical zones in the country are not recognised by the constitution.

But if they wish to play the zoning card, then the Senate and House cannot be headed by the North. “For the avoidance of doubt, the issue of South- East being denied a principal officer’s seat in the House is hogwash. We have respect for the people of the South-East, but we cannot hold brief for a zone that produced only two “new” APC members. The issue of the exclusion of the South-East does not exist; rather they are not qualified to be principal officers of the House.

For emphasis and clarity, the provision of standing rules of the House, Order 7 Rule 37 states that ‘Only members with cognate legislative experience as members of the National Assembly shall be eligible for appointment as principal officers’.

‘’We are also surprised that a group led by Speaker Dogara, who is a lawyer, is talking about a court action presumably instigated by him based on federal character, when a fresh law school graduate knows that the issue of federal character as enshrined in S.14 of the constitution is non-justice able and of no legal consequence.”

Chachangi said Tambuwal agreed to take his group’s position to the Dogara group for consideration while a joint meeting of both groups would hold later to resolve the differences. He restated the commitment of his group to peace and the quick resolution of the leadership crisis.

“The APC Loyalists Group would equally subscribe to an election among entire members of the APC House Caucus where all members, irrespective of zones, would exercise their right to elect their principal officers,” he stated.