By Yusuf Alli and Nicholas Kalu,
• Consensus arrangement within group difficult
Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th House of Representatives, there is a major split among the G7 aspirants for Speaker because of the visit of one of them, Muktar Aliyu Betara, to President-elect Bola Tinubu in France.
It was learnt that Tinubu and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima have persuaded Betara to step down for Tajudeen Abbas, who has been endorsed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the next Speaker.
Other aggrieved aspirants, who were caught unawares by the trip, felt bad that they were being left out of the scheme.
President open letter
Betara has, however, vowed to take the risk to slug it out with Abbas on June 13, a source said.
He is said to be banking on the votes of the incoming members of the House from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Also yesterday, opposition lawmakers under the aegis of Greater Majority clarified that they have not endorsed anyone for Speaker.
Some of the members have met Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso for consultation.
According to sources the France shuttle has widened the cracks in G7.
In a counter-move, the Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase, was also at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to welcome the President-elect back to the country.
The G7 aspirants for the Speakership include Wase, Betara; Adamu Yusuf Gagdi; Aminu Sani Jaji; Sada Soli; Miriam Onouha and Ado Doguwa.
Doguwa, however, exited the group on May 17 when he publicly declared support for Abbas.
The remaining six aspirants, who are in disarray, have been pulling the strings against Abbas.
A top source said: “All is not well in the G7 or now G6 camp since Betara visited the President-elect in France. Other aspirants felt they might lose out in the power game if APC and the President-elect succeed in ensuring the election of Abbas as the 10th Speaker.”
Another source said: “Some of them alleged that Betara was given undue attention over and above them. The rest of them were asking: Why only Betara?
“For example, like the Deputy Speaker, Wase, he thinks that his current position should have made him to also go to meet with Tinubu in France. But apparently, Betara was singled out. So, the likes of Wase and Gagdi are not happy about it.
“There is this silent disaffection among all of them. They won’t come out to talk publicly because they have gone far together to tell Nigerians that they’re working for a common goal. But when the chips are down, you guys will see what will happen.
“Some of the aspirants among the G7 are just lurking around and behaving like low-hanging fruits waiting to be harvested by the Tajudeen Abbas group.
“All that some of them want is recognition and a strong deal. They’re waiting for the main group of Abbas to harvest them. If they’re invited by the President-Elect to a meeting today, that’s the end of it. They’ll all fall in line.”
It was gathered that Betara has vowed to “take the risk to slug it out with Abbas” on June 13 when the House will be inaugurated.
A highly-placed source said: “Betara has not accepted the olive branch from the President-elect and the Vice President-elect. His claim was that he was persuaded to step down for the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, by Tinubu in 2019.
“He insisted on contesting even if it means he will lose. His confidence is buoyed by his war chest and the support of the members-elect from PDP and some opposition parties.
“His permutation is based on the likelihood of the emergence of Sen. Jibril Barau (from Kano in the North-West) as the Deputy President of the Senate. Since the election of the principal officers of the Senate will come first, Betara will capitalise on Barau’s victory to sway the House against Abbas, who is from the Northwest.”
The source said: “Betara has said that he sees nothing wrong in the Vice President and the Speaker emerging from the Northeast like the present situation in which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Gbajabiamila are from the Southwest”.
Doguwa’s factor
Investigation confirmed that Doguwa’s abandonment of the G7 may make the group to lose steam.
“They pretended as if nothing has happened. But the truth of the matter is that Doguwa’s decision to pull out of them also affected them a great deal,” a source hinted.
Doguwa had during a meeting between the Joint Task – 10th Assembly and other members-elect on May 17 announced his decision to support Abbas wholeheartedly.
“He said he is a loyal party member who has benefitted immensely from the APC,” a source said.
He was flanked by two former aspirants, Makki Yalleman and Abdulraheem Olawuyi, both of whom also stepped down for Abbas.
Greater Majority: we have not endorsed candidates
The Greater Majority said it has not endorsed anyone for Speaker and Deputy.
The group is made up of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Young Progressives Party (YPP) caucuses.
Speaking at the fourth session of the forum at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, its Convener, Fred Agbedi (PDP-Bayelsa), said there was need to interact with stakeholders to arrive at a decision on the Presiding Officers.
Agbebi inaugurated state coordinators who are to meet at their various state levels for the objective.
He said there would also be zonal coordinators, who will also meet at the zonal levels with the various states in collating their decisions after due consultations.
Agbedi also said the group had met with the PDP Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum; Obi; and Kwankwaso, ahead of the retreat of the group billed for Uyo, Akwa Ibom State next month.
Agbebi said: “Our leaders have authoritatively told us that they have not given mandates to their members-elect to either identify with either Mr A or Mr B. The only mandate and directive they gave to their people is to network, interact and ensure that they collate what is going on and give them the feedback; that at the appropriate time decisions would be reached, directives would be given, alliances would be formed and as minorities, we would be told or there would be some kind of agreement as to which direction to go.
“So, as I stand here, I don’t have any mandate from my party or my governor as to what to do. But interestingly, all our leaders are excited and happy that we have been able to mobilise ourselves together, meeting, networking and being able to show that we are a strong minority group that is ready to stand to the expectations of the 10th House of Reps. We are ready to deepen democracy.”
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