The immediate past Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, had at the party’s mock election on Saturday emerged the APC consensus candidate for the post of speaker. He polled 154 votes as against Yakubu Dogara’s three votes.
A total of 183 members registered for the mock election but the votes of four were declared as invalid.
Bukola Saraki’s group boycotted the primary conducted for senate presidency , but the APC picked Ahmad Lawan, who got 32 votes.
But on Sunday, the spokesperson for the 8th Assembly Consolidation Group which is Dogara’s campaign body, Abdulmumin Jibrin, warned that the APC was a on a path of self-destruction by sticking to the outcome of the primary.
Jibrin, a former Chairman, House Committee on Finance and contestant for the speakership until last week when he stepped down to support Dogara, insisted that there was no election.
“The mock election is a blatant lie. It was very shameful and disgraceful and the party only made a mockery of itself.
“We walked out of the hall and we never participated in the election. Therefore, the votes allocated to us were a fraud and we will not accept them,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
Jibrin claimed that members of the group had received threats of disciplinary actions from the party since Saturday, but he restated the resolve of Dogara’s supporters to ignore the APC and nominate him(Dogora) for Tuesday’s (tomorrow) election.
Disclosing that the group had petitioned Buhari to wade into the matter, he said it was regrettable that in just a week after the APC formed the government at the Federal level, it appeared set on “derailing” from the ideals which propelled it to power.
“We have decided to write a petition to Buhari to intervene in this matter; to call the party to order. We will go ahead to nominate Dogara on the 9th and we will not back out,” he said.
The group seized the opportunity to unveil Lasun Yusuf, a member from Osun State, as Dogora’s running mate .
The same Yusuf, had last week, announced that he was backing Gbajabiamila, only to make a U-turn on Sunday.
Shortly after the news conference, The Gbajabiamila Secretariat in Abuja called on the Dogara group to bury the hatchet and join the Lagos State lawmaker to build the House as from Tuesday.
It noted that had Dogara won the mock election instead of Gbajabiamila, the former minority leader would have supported him, being the candidate so chosen by the party.
The secretariat, also said there was nothing strange in conducting a mock election, which it argued was not different from the primaries members participated in before their election to the National Assembly.
Dickson Tarkighir, who spoke for the secretariat said, “It is unfortunate that some members sought for intervention of the party before their election into the National Assembly but suddenly realised that the unbiased intervention of the party in the mock election is inappropriate.
“Definitely, these are not agents of change. The party gave members-elect the platform to elect a popular candidate that would represent the party in the House and we are glad that at the end of that exercise, it was res ipsa loquitur.
“Had Dogara won the mock election we would have all queued behind him now but as a mark of discipline and respect for the party, we are all behind Gbajabiamila.”
However it was gathered that Gbajabiamila would most likely emerge as the speaker, barring any major alterations in the support structure he already had among members-elect.
It was learnt that flowing from his victory on Saturday, the North-West and North-East caucuses of the House resolved to sustain their support for him on Tuesday.
He was said to be already assured of the votes of 47 out of the 48 APC members from the South-West.
Findings revealed that the North-West, with 87 APC lawmakers, had over 84 backing Gbajabiamila.
A returning member of the House, who asked not to be named said , “Kano, with the largest state caucus, has 24 members; 21 voted for Gbajabiamila on Saturday and will repeat the same on Tuesday.
“Jigawa has 11 members, all whom are with Gbajabiamila.’’
Investigations also indicated that 35 out of the total 39 APC members from the North-East were firmly backing Gbajabiamila.
A top APC member, who also spoke in Abuja on Sunday, said, “The project in the House is tied to the project of Senator Ahmed Lawan, who is contesting the President of the Senate.
“It is the same project and we will keep to it until victory is won on Tuesday.’’
It was learnt that the North-West and the North-East started plotting in May to edge Dogara out of the contest when they prevailed on Mohammed Monguno, a former contestant for the speakership, to step down for Gbajabiamila.
Monguno was later asked to team up with Gbajabiamila as his deputy for a single ticket, a move meant to block Dogara in his North-East .
On the other hand, the North-West was said to have asked to be given no higher position than the Majority leader in the 8th House.
A former President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists and member-elect from Kano State, Sani Zoro, confirmed that the North was the main support base of Gbajabiamila.
Zoro said, “For someone who has served the opposition well for 12 years, he (Gbajabiamia) deserves to be rewarded.
“In a parliamentary system of government, he would have become the prime minister without debate.”
Findings showed that even the PDP Caucus with 193 members, was divided, an indication that Gbajabiamila and Dogara might share the votes of the minority camp on Tuesday.
“There is no guarantee of a block vote anymore because the two camps will share the votes of the PDP.
“The APC’s mock election of Saturday also spoke volumes of what to expect on Tuesday,” another member stated.
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