Loyalist of House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara have described being called “new PDP” by their counterparts who belong to Femi Gbajabiamila camp as a very dangerous trend.
These loyalists who are also members of the House of Reps had moved to nominate one of Gbajabiamila’s loyalists, Alhassan Doguwa, for the position of majority leader, which would provide a massive crack in the camp.
Yakubu Dogara
APC wants former minority leader, Mr. Gbajabiamila to take the position, this has further increased crisis between the two factions of the APC in the house.
If you could recall, Gbajabiamila was anointed by the party leadership to emerge speaker but lost to Dogara during the polls of the house.
In a statement signed Abdulmumin Jubrin, Kano state, the Dogara group demanded that the party’s leadership stop calling them the “new PDP” as it undermines the sacrifice its members have done for the APC.
“It is important for Mr. President and the party to note that while people like Gbajabiamila were busy having fun, some of us including governors and thousands of our supporters left the PDP at great personal risk to join APC,” the statement said.
“Today, they still disdainfully call us new PDP. This is a very dangerous trend that must not be allowed to continue. We therefore urge the party to call on Gbajabiamila to stop spreading hatred within the party,” it said.
The group said that they will continue to support the APC leadership, adding that the proposal of Mr. Dogara in respect of leadership positions of House should be respected.
“We wish to state that we unequivocally support “The Dogara Formula” in the distribution of the principal officers’ positions in the House of Representatives as proposed by the Honourable Speaker Yakubu Dogara,” the statement said.
“In his proposal, the speaker rightly allocated the House majority leader to the North West, deputy house leader to the North Central, the chief whip to the South-South and the deputy chief whip to the South East. Since the north east and south west already has the speaker and deputy, they were excluded.
“This proposal is in tandem with the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the spirit of federal character and the need for equity, fairness and justice.
“In his proposal, the speaker rightly allocated the House majority leader to the North West, deputy house leader to the North Central, the chief whip to the South-South and the deputy chief whip to the South East. Since the north east and south west already has the speaker and deputy, they were excluded.
“This proposal is in tandem with the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the spirit of federal character and the need for equity, fairness and justice.
“For the benefit of enlightenment, it is important to state that in terms of the leadership status of these vacant positions, the house leader is the most senior, followed by the chief whip. In the spirit of reconciliation and unity, Speaker Dogara has graciously conceded the positions of House Leader and Chief Whip to the Femi Gbajabiamila group,” the statement read.
The Dogara camp also presented Mr. Doguwa and other members for the four principal positions.
“Consequently, we the Consolidation Group have decided to adopt Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa from the North West as house leader, Hon. Buba Jibrin from the North Central as deputy house leader, Hon. Pally Iriase from the South South as the chief whip and Hon Chika Okafor from the South East as the deputy chief whip. We therefore call on our supporters to intensify lobbying at the zonal caucuses to ensure that these members emerge to assume the positions.
“Kindly note that Hon Alhassan Doguwa is the head of the Gbajabiamila Group while Hon Pally Iriase was in the speakership race but stepped down for Gbajabiamila and assumed a very prominent role in the Gbajabiamila group.
“Similarly, we call on the party to disregard the letter purportedly written by the Gbajabiamila group, which we know contemptuously emanated from the duo of Gbajabiamila and Hon. Falake without due consultation with the APC caucus in the House, many of whom are in full support of Dogara, his peace efforts and proposal for distribution of the remaining principal officers.”
Understanding in the House floor is that Gbajabiamila camp believes that Dogara’s insistence on not letting a majority leader from the South West where the Deputy Speaker, Lasun Yusuf, also hails from is “targeted at ensuring anybody but Gbajabiamila becomes the majority leader.”
One source close to Gbajabiamila reported that Dogara’s position is that anyone can be majority leader as long as his name is not Gbajabiamila.
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