Yesterday, when the main leaders of the National Assembly were chosen, the cold war between President Bola Tinubu and Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), came to a head. Adamu was left out of the decision about how the posts would be divided, which made Tinubu angry.
Adamu separated the ruling party from the choice of National Assembly officers, but APC states supported the appointments and called the new officers “prominent members of the party.”
Sources close to the Presidency said that President Tinubu knew about the zoning and hiring of the main officers, but they were worried about Adamu’s claim that the party didn’t know how the decisions were made.
The source said, “I can confirm that Godswill Akpabio, President of the Senate, and Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, talked to President Tinubu about the appointments before the Sallah holiday.” I am surprised, though, that the national head of the party says he doesn’t know about it. I’m sure that the problem will be solved. It’s a private matter.”
At the start of the National Assembly again, Akpabio named Senator Opeyemi Bamidele from Ekiti Central as Senate Majority Leader. He also named Senator Dave Umahi from Ebonyi South as Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South as Chief Whip, and Senator Lola Ashiru from Kwara South as Deputy Whip.
In the same way, Abbas introduced Prof. Julius Ihonvbere (Edo) as the House Majority Leader. Halims Abdullahi, who was from Kogi State and was the Deputy Majority Leader, Usman Kumo, who was from Gombe State and was the Chief Whip, and Adewumi Onanuga, who was from Ogun State and was the House Deputy Chief Whip. Ali Madaki, who was born in Kano State, became the Deputy Minority Leader. Mrs Adewunmi Oriyomi Onanuga, who was born in Ogun, became the Deputy Chief Whip of the House.
Kingsley Chinda, who used to be chairman of the House committee on Public Accounts and was a friend of the previous governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, was named Minority leader of the lower legislative house earlier.
In the Senate, it was thought that the G-5 of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Wike, beat the candidate of the party, Aminu Tambuwal, by making sure that Mwadkwon Simon Davou (PDP, Plateau North) became Minority Leader and Oyewumi Kamorudeen Olarere (PDP, Osun West) became Deputy Minority Leader.
Others are Dalington Nwokeocha (LP, Abia Central) as Minority Whip and Rufai Hanga (NNPP, Kano Central) as Deputy Minority Whip.
Adamu, who said he had housed Akpabio during the Eid-el-Kabir celebration, said, “I had a courtesy call from the President of the Senate and his Deputy on Saturday.” He was upset that the top officers had left without the party. The next day, Sunday, I met with the Speaker and his assistant for Sallah’s honour.
“But I just heard a report on the Internet that the Senate and House of Representatives have made some announcements. The party’s national offices did not get this information or hear about the pick of officers.
“And until we make a formal decision and tell them about it in writing, which is the standard, we don’t plan to break with custom. So any statement made by the President of the Senate, the Deputy President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, or the Deputy Speaker of the House is not from this office.”
Adamu, who spoke soon after the meeting of the APC National Working Committee (NWC), said that the APC group has been reorganised according to the party constitution. He also asked the governors for their help in moving the party.
He also promised to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) detailed records of the party’s spending from April 2022 to April 2023, as well as money spent by the presidential campaign council (PCC).
But Governor Hope Uzodinmma of Imo State told media after the meeting behind closed doors between APC governors and the NWC led by Adamu that he supports the choice of the National Assembly’s top leaders.
Uzodinma said that he and his fellow members of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) would make sure that the party and the top leaders of the National Assembly could work well together.
He said, “The people in charge of the National Assembly are members of our great party and have our backing. If there is a problem with contact in any way, we will fix it. We have our own way of dealing with these kinds of problems.
“The Progressive governments and our party back the leadership of the National Assembly. We have absolutely no problem.” In attendance at the parley held at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja were Governors Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dikko Rada (Katsina), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Uzodimma (Imo), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Ogbonna Nwifuru (Ebonyi), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Bassey Otu (Cross River), Abdurahman Andulrazak (Kwara) and Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti).
After being sworn in as Nigeria’s president on May 29, Tinubu has continued to tighten his hold on power while breaking away from the impact of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
After taking control of the country’s government, economy, military, and political systems, the president is now planning to take control of his party by putting in loyal and trusted friends.
Before the APC National Caucus and the long-awaited National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings on July 10 and 11, there are rumours within the party that the plan to get rid of Adamu is getting stronger every day.
Sources say that President Tinubu, his deputy Kashim Shettima, former President Buhari, past and present APC governors, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Working Committee (NWC) members, and other party stakeholders will attend the important meetings of the party’s two legal organs.
The Senate President spoke to the Senators about the challenges ahead. He said, “The normal challenges facing our dear country are very clear to all of us, and so as we resume today, it is to work on stabilising the whole country and the current administration of President Tinubu to ensure rapid economic growth, which he has shown so far in less than 20 days in office.”
“In light of this, I ask all senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and by extension, the whole National Assembly, to work closely and cooperatively with our people before any other important feelings or agendas.
“At a good time like this, the country has given us the job of making laws, keeping an eye on things, and speaking up at all levels. This is so that we can shape policies and make laws that will improve the lives of our people and help bring about a new Nigeria.”
“As we get back to work today, I just want us to think about what our consciences tell us to do, and may God help us as we do so. We should talk about everything and try to find things we agree on. We will put aside our differences and work together for the greater good.”
In the meantime, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, is worried about how hard it will be for Nigerians without the fuel aid.
In his welcome speech, he said that the lawmakers should support the Executive branch’s efforts to soften the effects of the policy through legislative actions.
In his speech, “In the People’s House for the People’s Mandate,” he said, “I don’t have to tell you that our people are having a hard time since the government stopped subsidising gasoline products.
The Speaker said that the lower legislative body needs to act right away on the huge debt, the unstable international oil market, rising unemployment, hyperinflation, a high rate of poverty, a lack of infrastructure, and deindustrialization. He said, “Even though it was done for the good of the country, this one action has led to higher prices for goods, transportation costs, business costs, and the cost of living in general.”
The Speaker also said that even though the security forces have done a good job of keeping people and property safe, internal security is still fragile and hard to maintain.
He said that the House of Representatives would pass laws that would boost the security forces and get rid of crooks.
Assuring that the National Assembly would let the public see how its money was spent by the Executive and the Judiciary, he said that the 10th Assembly would adopt the “Open NASS” project, which will affect not only how oversight and lawmaking are done, but also how the National Assembly’s money is handled.
Abbas said that the 10th Assembly is building on what was done in the previous meetings, but that the politicians must now change the way they do things as they move forward.
Bamidele, the new Majority leader of the Senate, has denied that the top officers were chosen from a list sent from the President. After the session on Tuesday, Bamidele talked to the Press Corps.
He spoke for the other principal officers when he said that they would use the job to make a good change. He said that the governing officers were chosen in a clear and fair way, without any bad feelings.
He said that after the Senate President and his Deputy were elected, the rest of the presiding officers didn’t need to be decided by members. Instead, they needed to be decided by the most important people in the party, which included members of the NWC as well as those who were already in office in the two arms of government. He said that the people who had a stake in the matter were able to make the choices that led to their appearance at the session.
“Again, when it came to the minority, it wasn’t just a party thing because there wasn’t just one opposition party. Instead, there were six opposition parties and 50 of our friends who were active. So, rather than being a decision made by political parties, it was more of a decision made by people who were chosen on the platform of the six minority parties.
“Thirty-eight of the minority senators decided, with their clear signatures, who their leaders will be. This was also communicated to their political parties, and as a democrat, all the presiding officer could do was agree, since more than a simple majority, an overwhelming majority, had decided.
“With 26 signatures, we have a simple majority. Out of the 50 senators who were elected on the platform of the alternative political parties, 38 of them clearly signed, and again, it was a very clear situation, and we thank God that it was peaceful on both sides.
On how to move forward, he said that their next step is to get right to work so that they can start taking steps on Wednesday and give us a clear scientific understanding of what needs to be done.
“The first thing we have to do is make 10th Senate special groups. Our rules call for six special committees, and one of them is the selection committee. It would not have been formed without the principal officers who were elected today, who are also members of the selection committee. Once the selection committee is formed, we can immediately form the other five special committees and then spend the next two weeks working on all the other standing committees of the Senate.
On how much the Presidency was involved in their rise to power, he said, “There was no list from the villa, and we’re not hiding the fact that the same party controls both branches of government. We can’t hide that.”
“In any decent democracy in the world, the party and, by extension, the people the party has put in charge of running all parts of government will care about who is in charge. Our own democracy is modelled after the U.S. system.
“For the sake of holiness and clarity, the Vice President of the United States is also the President of the Senate. That is the only thing they did. Section 60 of our own law is very clear”.
