Doguwa, Iriase Accept House Nominations, As Gbajabiamila Loses

Doguwa, Iriase Accept House Nominations, As Gbajabiamila Loses

•Loyalists Group rejects proposal 

After an alleged close understanding between members of the Consolidation Group and Loyalists Group, the two warring sides in the House of Representatives, it was learnt at the weekend that former House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, may no longer be Majority Leader as proposed by the leadership of the ruling party.

This is because three close allies of Gbajabiamila and key members of the Loyalists Group, which is aligned with the ruling All Progressives Congress, have accepted House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s script for the distribution of principal offices.

Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Hon. Pally Iriase, and Hon. Mohammed Monguno said they had to bend over backward to aid the smooth take-off of the legislative functions of the lower chamber in the overall interest of the country. They joined the spokesperson for Dogara’s supporters in the Consolidation Group, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin, to address a press conference in Abuja on Saturday, where they supported the speaker’s nominations of Doguwa from the North-west and Iriase from the South-south as House Leader and Chief Whip, respectively. It was an event that tended to mark the end of the House of Representatives’ leg of a National Assembly crisis that had forced the two chambers to shift their resumption from July 21 to July 28.

But a member of the Loyalists Group, Hon. Nasiru Zangon-Daura, swiftly denied any understanding with the Consolidation Group, saying members of his group declaring support for Dogara’s proposal are acting on their own.

“The APC Loyalists Group hereby deny and unequivocally reject any purported endorsement of a so-called formula on the APC leadership in the House of Representatives. Any member of our group who claims to be part of this arrangement acts on his own and not on behalf of the group,” Zangon-Daura said in a brief statement.

The National Assembly has been enmeshed in crisis since June 9, when Senator Bukola Saraki and Dogara emerged Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, against the choices of their party, APC. The ruling party had chosen Senator Ahmed Lawan for the post of Senate President and Gbajabiamila for House Speaker. Following the election of Saraki and Dogara, APC offered a compromise position in which it proposed names for the remaining principal posts.

APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in a letter to the Speaker on June 23 detailed the party’s zoning arrangement for the principal offices in the House, thus, Gbajabiamila (House Leader), South-west; Doguwa (Deputy House Leader), North-west; Monguno (Chief Whip), North-east; and Iriase(Deputy Chief Whip), South-south. Odigie-Oyegun had also written a similar letter to Saraki and it was completely flouted.

However, in a response on July 16 to the APC chairman’s suggestions, Dogara maintained that the principle of geopolitical balance dictated that the positions of House Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Leader, and Deputy Chief Whip should go to the North-west, South-south, North-central, and South-east, respectively, which had not gotten any principal positions in the lower chamber. 

The Speaker, thus, proposed Doguwa as House Leader, Iriase as Chief Whip, Hon. Buba Jibrin from the North-central as Deputy Leader, and Hon. Chike Okafor from the South-east as Deputy Chief Whip. Dogara faulted the proposal of the APC leadership on the grounds that persons from the North-east and South-west had already occupied principal positions in the House.

At the press conference, Abdulmumin stated that: “Mr Speaker’s argument has always been since the North-east and South-west have produced the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the remaining principal positions should go to the North-west, North-central, South-south and South-east in the spirit of equity, fairness, justice, a strong precedence and provision of the constitution. In the interest of peace, unity and harmony in the House, Speaker Dogara reached out extensively to individuals and groups and committed lot of energy and time toward finding an amicable solution to the nagging issue.”

“Interestingly, both the Speaker and a great majority of the APC caucus in the House, including gladiators in the Gbajabiamila’s group like Hon Monguno, Hon Doguwa, and Hon Pally, support and stand by the Equity Team. We have commenced collection of signatures which has reached advanced stage to affirm the Dogara formula. All other interests, including those excluded from the principal offices, specifically Hon. Gbajabiamila and Hon Monguno, will be duly accommodated with commensurate responsibility to serve. Since the Speaker has about 200 positions to share out, many members will have the opportunity to serve the country.”