There are indications that the battle for the position of speaker of the House of Representatives may be causing rift between the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the immediate past Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.
This new development is said to be posing a serious threat to the harmony that exists in the party.
It was gathered by The Sun that rift in the party became apparent after a recent retreat for the members of the House which failed to mend the crack between the leadership of the party and some interest groups backing some candidates.
According to report, Hon Yakubu Dogara, the chairman of the House Services Committee is widely believed to enjoy the full backing of the former Speaker and his Deputy Chief Emeka Ihedioha while Tinubu’s candidate is outgoing minority leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is from the South-west.
A competent source close to the house said: “I don’t see anything changing between now and June 9. Dogara is the project of Tambuwal and Ihedioha. It was so well worked out in concert with the PDP members that it will be difficult to change. You know how popular Tambuwal and Ihedioha are in the House. Even, how they emerged in 2011 against the expressed wish and zoning principle of their party then is a pointer.”
Apart from Tambuwal’s influence in the house and the support of the PDP, it was further learnt that some of the people want to cease the opportunity to whittle down Tinubu’s growing powers in the party.
The source pointed out that Tinubu is widely acclaimed as the brain behind the mergers that culminated in the formation of the party and is also credited with being the force behind the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo as presidential candidate and running mate respectively.
According to him, they need to checkmate Tinubu before it becomes too late.
“How can one man produce the national chairman of the party, the presidential candidate and his running mate. If he has the national chairman, the president and his deputy, and then the Speaker, it means the party is in his pocket, and he will do what he likes with it,” he said.
The battle may have inadvertently opened new fronts of dichotomy between the original members of the APC at inception and those that defected from other parties, who are derogatorily referred to as ‘joiners.’
Gbajabiamila’s supporters have often made references to Dogara’s men as ‘joiners’. This label has not only infuriated them, but created a steel wedge in the way of harmony and reconciliation.
The speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Federal House of Representatives of Nigeria. The speaker is chosen in an indirect election conducted within the House of Representatives. The speaker is third in line for succession to the Nigerian presidency, after the president of the Senate and the vice president.
