After weeks of
infighting, ding dong politics and finger pointing, Speaker House of
Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, yesterday buckled and named
Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila as the Majority Leader of the chamber.
The development,
which was a sharp contrast to the earlier stand of the speaker that the
position must go to the Northwest to accommodate federal character principle in
the sharing of principal offices, came a day after President Muhammadu Buhari
met with the House caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The President
is the game changer”, Chairman House Ad hoc Committee on Media Hon Sani Zorro
said.
Other positions
announced by the Speaker are Hon. Buba Jibrin (Deputy Majority Leader), Hon.
Alhassan Doguwa (Chief Whip), Hon. Pally Iriase(Deputy Chief Whip).
For the PDP,
Dogara announced Hon. Leo Ogor as the Minority Leader and Hon. Chukwuma Onyema
as the Deputy Minority Leader. Honourables Yakubu Barde and Binta Bello emerged
the Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip.
Yesterday’s
announcement of the principal officers was preceded by last ditch intrigues and
meetings involving the Speaker, the Clerk and some key members of the House.
Everything had
suggested that the principal officers would not be announced as the Speaker ,
after reading his speech to welcome the lawmakers from a five week break, went
ahead with the business of the day.
However, midway
into the plenary, he beckoned on his Deputy, Hon. Yusuf Lasun to take charge of
the proceeding. This was construed by many as a sign that the announcement of
the principal officers had been postponed to another day.
Dogara was later
said to have gone to the office of Clerk of the House, Sani Omolori with some
lawmakers. It was there that the decision to alter the list and concede the
position of Majority Leader to Gbajabiamila was agreed.
With the
development, the Dogara camp conceded three of the four principal offices to
the APC Loyalist Group, Gbajabiamila’s group.
Before today,
Dogara had penciled Alhassan Doguwa for Majority Leader, Buba Jibrin as deputy,
and Pally Iriase as Chief Whip, with Chike Okafor as deputy.
Speaking on his
appointment, the elated Gbajabiamila said: “What you saw in the last 49 days
was actually democracy in action. That’s what politics is all about: everybody
trying to outwit everybody for the greater good of the country. And I am glad
that everything has panned out the way it has panned out. You will now see the
House you knew in the last four years back in action, working for the people,
working for the nation. I’m sure we’ll have a lot more to say tomorrow
(today)”.
Giving details
of all that transpired, Zoro explained: “You can also remember that when we
were going on recess and there were some disturbances in the House of
Representatives we made it clear that the problems we were going through were
merely transitional in nature and we have been proved right.
“Today we have
resolved all the problems that brought (about) that circumstance.”
He stressed:
“What transpired today is the triumph of the internal democracy of the House of
Representatives and this triumph is also anchored on four factors.
“It is anchored
on patriotism, constitutionalism, reason and rationality. These re what guided
the steps taken by the entire House of Representatives laid by its leadership
and all the contending groups that were party to the various negotiations.
“…What we did
was purely transitional and is in order but I can assure you that apart from
the triumph of dialogue, the 8th House of Representatives has shown that we are
mature politicians. Politics is about give and take and that is what has
happened.
“The leadership,
the commitment of the leadership and the followership of the House of
Representatives to the objectives of the party and commitment to national
interest can no longer be in doubt.
“We members of
the House of Representatives will be on good behaviour henceforth. There will
be no cause for rancour and the kind of disturbances that was witnessed the
other day.
“We want to use
this opportunity to thank Mr. President for a 20 minute meeting. It was very,
very crucial. What Mr. President did was a fatherly engagement. What he did has
clearly shown that he is not the so-called dictator that our opponents wanted
to paint him as.
“He said let the
National Assembly follow it’s own democratic processes and it’s leaders will
emerge and that is what happened.
“We thank [The
President] and recognize that democratic temper in him that is going to flow to
all [our] democratic institutions.”
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