South-East may lose out || ANPP loses minority leadership to ACN || Senate President David Mark and key officers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) returned from Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State yesterday with assurance from President Goodluck Jonathan and national leaders of the PDP that the zoning status quo in the National Assembly would be retained.Jonathan had invited the Senate president, members of the National Working Committee of the party and some members of the Board of Trustees for a crucial meeting over the unfolding power game at the National Assembly.
The meeting, according to an insider, was informed by the clash of interests of the party leaders across the six geopolitical zones. While the South-East governors and the party chieftains from the zone were said to have strongly canvassed having the office of the Senate president or the speaker of the House of Representatives, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders of the South-West zone of the party insisted that the zoning status quo should be retained.
Also barring any last minute alteration in the existing status quo in the House, Muraina Ajibola (PDP Oyo) may replace Dimeji Bankole as the speaker.
However, one of the national officers of the PDP, who attended the meeting in Obudu, told LEADERSHIP last night that Jonathan and the NWC of the PDP have resolved that the status quo in the National Assembly offices be retained.
According to the officer: “As at Wednesday night, President Goodluck Jonathan and the leaders of our party agreed that the status quo regarding the offices of the National Assembly should be retained.”
By the status quo, it means that the North-Central will still produce the Senate president; South-East, deputy Senate president; South-West, speaker of the House of Representatives; North-East, deputy speaker.
The national officer of the party added that Jonathan openly told leaders of the PDP that Mark had performed very well in the last few years and should be encouraged to retain his office.
He added: “There was a near-agreement among those present at the meeting that Senator David Mark had helped in stabilising the National Assembly, which had created working harmony between the executive and the National Assembly.”
Meanwhile, the South-East PDP leaders are expected to meet in Enugu on Sunday to take a position on the matter. The South-East, our source stated, is embittered by the decision to retain the status quo. PDP leaders of the zone had asked for the position of speaker of the House, arguing that given their support for the president during the election, there is no reason they should not get the post. “By retaining the status quo, we are rewarding the South-West for failing to deliver their zone,” lamented a leader from the South-East.
Another source told LEADERSHIP last night that Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe State, a senator-elect, his counterpart in Kwara State, Chief Bukola Saraki, and former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, had signified their interest for the office of Senate president.
Barring all unforeseen circumstances, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) would be named the minority leader when the new National Assembly is inaugurated in first week of June, LEADERSHIP can now authoritatively reveal.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) would forgo the minority leadership, which it has been keeping since 1999 to the newly emerged number-one opposition party, the ACN.
The party has no fewer than 19 seats in the upper chamber which are largely drawn from the South-West states of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Osun and Edo. It also has one slot each from Anambra and Benue.
LEADERSHIP checks revealed that the odds favour Senator Ganiyu Solomon: he is the most tested and experienced member.
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