•Dogara bows to Buhari, APC
Party supremacy advocates yesterday carried the day, with Femi Gbajabiamila becoming the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.
The sharing of offices in the House had be contentious. It all ended peacefully as Speaker Yakubu Dogara announced Gbajabiamila the Majority Leader – in deference to President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress(APC).
Dogara, by accepting the party’s list, opted for peace than a prolonged crisis in the House.
But, instead of riding his colleagues roughshod, Dogara allowed the caucuses of the APC to have input in the choice of principal officers.
The horse-trading ran late into the wee hours of yesterday but all the factions accepted to bury the hatchets in the interest of the party’s success.
Six factors accounted for the resolution of the crisis in the House, The Nation learnt.
A member of the House listed the factors as follows:
- the Buhari 20-minute intervention on Monday night;
- follow-up intervention by the party leadership after the session with Buhari;
- Dogara’s design of a consensus formula;
- the need to compensate Gbajabiamila for his role as opposition leader in the House for eight years and in making APC a reality;
- Reps were crisis-weary; and
- the need to save the nation’s democracy because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was trying to capitalise on the crisis to derail Buhari’s administration.
The source said: “Dogara and APC members were moved by Buhari’s 20-minute appeal. We saw a President who was wearied that we were not united and Dogara seized the moment. He abandoned all prejudices to put the nation and the survival of APC first.
“I think Dogara has tremendous respect for Buhari and he decided to be his own man to defer to the President and APC. He kept on asking, without the party, would I have been here? What is so difficult that we cannot resolve?
“That meeting at the Presidential Villa changed the mood of the warring factions in the House.”
It was also gathered that Dogara was moved by the APC Chairman John Odidie-Oyegun and APC Follow-up Committee. He could not fathom why the elderly ones were begging him, it was learnt.
According to sources, shortly after the session between Buhari and APC members in the House on Monday, the party raised a four-man ad hoc committee to follow up on the President’s mandate – that the party’s stand must prevail.
Members of the committee are Odigie-Oyegun, the National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the National Vice-Chairman, Northeast, Mr. B.B. Lawal.
A source in the committee said: “We had a meeting with the Speaker and Deputy Speaker Lasun Yusuf. We also had a separate session with Femi Gbajabiamila.
“The atmosphere was somber and the two groups agreed to harmonise their positions. They said we should allow the zonal caucuses to elect their leaders.
“They all respected the meeting we had with the President on party supremacy. They said for Buhari to intervene, the crisis was getting out of hand.”
The party source added: “There was intense horse-trading till the wee hours of Tuesday morning when the factions in the House agreed to move forward.
“There were signs too that members of APC in the House were tired of the crisis. They saw the signs that the PDP was already capitalising on the gridlock to cripple the administration of Buhari.
“They noticed that at the rate the crisis was going, it could derail the nation’s democracy. So, wise counsel prevailed and members chose to sheathe their swords.”
The National Secretary of APC told our correspondent that the APC committee brokered truce among its members in the House. “It is a welcome development. We are impressed that they respected the party and affirmed the supremacy of the party,” he said, adding:
“This has confirmed that we are one family. It is a clear manifestation that we can unite for the sake of the nation.
“The case of the Senate will be addressed; it would soon be sorted out. We are equally expecting them to respect the position of the party as well.”
The Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee on Information, Mallam Sanni Zorro, who spoke last night with our correspondent, said: “It was the triumph of democracy, the House is the winner. The House has demonstrated political maturity because politics is about give-and-take.
“President Buhari is not only a leader but a game changer. Since 1999, past Presidents had always installed the leaders of the National Assembly but President Buhari decided not to interfere.
“There was pressure on him to interfere but he refused. It was only when the crisis got to a critical stage that he intervened. Yet, he did not impose his will. The party also did not use force.”
Zorro praised the Speaker for championing peace in the House.
He added: “To resolve the crisis, Dogara came up with a final consensus formula which took into consideration the interest of critical stakeholders including the nation, the presidency, regional politics, zoning and all those things that divided members.
“It is a win-win situation. There was no winner, no loser. With the crisis amicably resolved, the House is now open for business, legislative activities and engagement with public, private and non-governmental actors.”
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