9th N/Assembly Leadership Tussle: Dogara Reportedly Plans To Shock APC, Gbajabiamila

Barely a month to the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly, indications have emerged that more intrigues are to be expected in the lead up to the setting up of its leadership.

Sources have confirmed that Hon Yakubu Dogara of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party may still be interested in retaining the speakership of the House Of Representatives.

It is however reported that Dogara is keeping the game plan very close to his chest even as horse tradings and negotiations continue ahead of the inauguration of the lawmakers expected to happen in June.

ORIENTAL TIMES, however, reports that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has adopted current House Leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as its candidate for the speakership position.

Similarly, chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole also declared that the party is not ready to share leadership positions with the opposition and would resist every attempt to repeat what happened in 2015.

Sources, however, told Daily Independent in confidence opposition lawmakers might be hatching a plan to make Gbajabiamila believe he has their support, but end up doing otherwise.

One of the sources said, “If you can observe, Dogara, who is supposed to be working with some aggrieved APC lawmakers to defeat Gbajabiamila, has refused to take a definite position on who he is backing.

“APC members in his camp who are insisting on the North Central producing the next speaker have canvassed the support of the camp for ‘Project Fairness and Equity’ which someone like Umar Bago has espoused.

“Despite the withdrawal of Hon. Idris Wase from Plateau to become deputy to Gbajabiamila, Dogara has refused to give the green light to the only viable option from the zone, which is Bago.

“Apart from him, the next viable person is Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas from Adamawa who’s even ready to sacrifice his ambition for Bago.

“Many members in the camp, including PDP lawmakers, expect the speaker to call for a meeting where a particular person would be picked as Gbajabiamila’s challenger so that we can start the real work of poaching votes, but such didn’t happen.”

“I chose to respond to your questions because of a piece you wrote about ‘Dogara’s Indecision And The Choice Before His Men”, he said.

The PDP has however declared that its members have a right to contest leadership positions in the two chambers of the National Assembly, adding that the APC should leave the lawmakers to determine their leaders.

The party is said to have perfected a plan to have its members nominate incumbent Speaker Dogara as a surprise move to counter APC and its members on the day of the election.

According to another source, “The party is ready to take its chances with Dogara as candidate, provided Gbajabiamila has another challenger from the APC, which will make the APC have a divided house and votes. And it will automatically give the opposition the upper hand and advantage of winning with a simple majority using PDP block votes.”

He continued: “If things remain as they are with Bago or Namdas insisting on running and get nominated on the floor, then Dogara will join and some of the so-called opposition members endorsing Gbaja now will be the ones to nominate him (Dogara). It’s going to be a shocker to the ruling party and even APC Reps who’re still with him.

“And they will feel disappointed and betrayed because the expectation is that he should rally opposition members behind one of them to undo Gbajabiamila, because if there’s anything the current speaker dreads right now, it is Gbajabiamila as speaker.”

“The only thing that would save APC and Gbajabiamila is that a challenger from the party withdraws his nomination before voting would commence. Only with that can Gbajabiamila easily emerge without much skirmishes against an opposition candidate”, the source noted.

Attempts to get a reaction from the Dogara camp, were unsuccessful as at press time as calls and text messages to his Media Adviser, Turaki Hassan, were not replied to.