Politics
N’Assembly: PDP, LP, NNPP, others jostle for remaining principal offices
The parties are the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, New Nigerian People’s Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Social Democratic Party, African Democratic Congress and the Youth Progressive Party.
In the Red Chamber, the ruling All Progressives Congress has 59 senators; PDP, 36, LP, eight; SDP, two; NNPP, two; YPP, one; and APGA, one.
The PDP has 117 members in the House of Representatives; LP, 35; NNPP, 19; APGA, five; SDP, two; ADC, two; and the YPP, one, totalling 181 opposition members. Those in the APC are 178.
A member-elect on the platform of the PDP from Taraba State, Ismaila Maihanci, died on April 22, 2023, to make up the 360th member of the House.
The remaining principal officers for the majority caucus are the Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Senate Whip and Senate Minority Whip.
For the minority caucus, there are the Senate Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Senate Whip and Deputy Minority Whip.
In the House of Representatives, the available positions for the party with majority members are Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Majority Whip and Deputy Majority Whip, while for the opposition parties, there are Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip.
Although the list of principal officers will come from the political parties, the presiding officers cannot be totally excluded from the selection process.
Two major camps had emerged among senators in the course of the leadership tussle. Those in the Stability Group supported the Godswill Akpabio/Jibrin Barau ticket for the Senate President and Deputy Senate President, while those in the Democrats Group backed the Abdulaziz Yari and Orji Kalu ticket.
It was reliably informed that Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central) was gunning for the position of Senate Leader.
A source informed one of our correspondents that the Senate Leader for the majority caucus would likely be zoned to the South-West.
Bamidele, who was the Deputy Director-General of the Akpabio/Barau ticket, was said to want the position of the Senate Leader as one of the ranking lawmakers from the South-West.
The source noted that Senator Omotayo Buhari (APC Oyo North) was also aiming for the Senate Leader in the Yari team.
The source stated, “Senators Opeyemi Bamidele and Buhari have both been eyeing the Senate Leader but now that it Senator Akpabio won the Senate President’s seat, Bamidele will likely get it.
“But one cannot tell, because the Senate President from his comments seems like he is willing to integrate as many from the other group into his team. But Bamidele has a better chance, especially because of Buhari’s alliance against the party’s choice.”
Meanwhile, in the minority caucus, Senator Francis Fadahunsi (PDP, Osun East) is said to be at the forefront for the position of the Senate Minority leader. Senators Abdul Ningi and Adamu Aliero are also said to be major contenders for the seat.
Fadahunsi stated that if the position was zoned to the South-West, he was eminently qualified for it, adding that the South-East also stood a chance, but the PDP got more votes in Osun State during the last general elections, which would give him an edge as a ranking senator.
He said, “Yes, I am interested in the position of the Senate Leader. If the position is zoned to the South-West, then I am eminently qualified for the position.
“I am a major and experienced lawmaker in the South-West PDP. The South-East zone can also be considered, having lost out of the presiding officers, but the party didn’t even get enough votes there.”
Ningi said the choice of being the Minority Leader was beyond him, but he was willing to accept the leadership position if the caucus nominated him.
“I am not vying for anything, but if I am nominated as either the Senate Leader or whatever position, who am I not to accept it?” he said.
Ningi, who was the Senate Deputy Minority Leader in the 9th Assembly, also applauded Akpabio for having started on a good note, adding that he was ready to work with him.
He said, “I am happy he has started on a very clean slate. I can see that he is ready for this job and we have assured him that once he accords us our respect, we are going to give him our full loyalty.
“Because he is a ranking senator, he understands that on behalf of the people of this country over the years things have not been done so well that time will give us another opportunity to redo what we have not been able to do in the last couple of years.”
Aspirants lobby LP, NNPP
Meanwhile, Oke and Salam have indicated their readiness to work with non-PDP members in the minority caucus.
In a chat with one of our correspondents, Oke was asked, “Is there a possibility of other minority parties taking some seats in the minority caucus leadership?” Responding, he said, “Yes, we will share the four minority leadership (positions) among the minority parties – the PDP, LP and NNPP.
“Aside from the party zoning positions after our leaders in the NWC and the governors may have decided, it is imperative that we talk and lobby among ourselves. No leader can impose himself on his colleagues.”
Similarly, Salam said, “All of us in the minority parties are talking on this issue of leadership. The leadership of each political party will also have some form of dialogue and interactions on how we will eventually form the leadership of the minority caucus.”
By Okey Maduforo Awka
The former member that represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency Chief Chinedu Obidigwe has denied a social media handle where he was said to have made Prof Charles Soludo the Governor of Anambra state.
Obidigwe further stated that the report did neither emanate from him or from his Media Aides urging the party not to believe what he called attempt at setting a negative agenda in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Obidigwe who is an Aspirant of the party for the Anambra East and West Federal Constituency accused enemies of the party being sponsored by opposition parties to creat problems .
According to the Media Assistant to Obidigwe Mr Dominic Okagbue in a statement;
“The attention of Hon. Chinedu Benjamin Obidigwe has been drawn to misleading and unfounded claims/propaganda being circulated on various social media platforms through a pseudo account, alleging that Obidigwe said he installed the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, as Governor in 2021”
“We wish to state, without any iota of equivocation, that such a statement never emanated from Hon. Chinedu Obidigwe. It is a desperate move by his political enemies who are bent on tarnishing his image as a tool and technique to advance their unmerited aspirations”
“Obidigwe, in 2021, was merely an electorate with just one vote. Even though he voted for the Governor and APGA, the question remains: can one man’s vote make a Governor?”
“Governor Soludo was elected and made Governor through the collective votes of Ndi Anambra, both in his first and second terms. We therefore call on the reading public to disregard such rumours and treat them as faceless and unfounded allegations geared towards the character assassination of an innocent man” he said.
A former Kano State Governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Rabiu Kwankwaso, says northern political leaders conducted a deliberate assessment of potential allies before settling on Peter Obi as the most capable partner to prosecute the 2027 presidential campaign.
He dismissed concerns about a hidden power struggle between his camp and Obi’s.Politics
Kwankwaso made the disclosure in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, offering one of his most detailed accounts yet of how the North-Southeast political alliance within the NDC was formed.
“I looked around together with our leadership in the north to say, okay, who do we think is capable? Who can come and work together with us honestly so that we can move this country? Along the line, we realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
Kwankwaso, a two-term former governor of Kano State and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in 2023, leads the Kwankwasiyya movement, a grassroots political force with deep loyalty across Kano and parts of northern Nigeria.Nigeria travel guide
He left the NNPP amid internal disputes before joining the NDC alongside Obi earlier this month.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and drew massive youth-driven support across the South and urban centres, though he did not win.
Both men formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, defecting from the crisis-hit African Democratic Congress.Politics
At the party’s national convention on Saturday in Abuja, Kwankwaso backed the NDC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing it as a step toward fairness, healing and national cohesion.
Responding to a question about whether the alliance concealed a quiet rivalry between both camps, Kwankwaso argued that friction between principals and their deputies was a product of greed, not structural tension.
“The problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. There is so much to do. You don’t have to fight your deputy,” he said.
He said his record as a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, and later as governor of Kano State, showed that political partnerships could hold under pressure.
“I had an opportunity to work with my speaker and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor. We were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him,” he said.
Kwankwaso extended the argument beyond his personal experience, saying the same principle applied at the federal level.
In the Senate and other places, in the NDDC, we worked amicably with people. There is so much to be done and that’s why you have even ministers, other executives, advisors and so on. I don’t see from my experiences of the past why deputies or vice would fight with the president or governor,” he said.
He grounded the alliance in Nigerian political history, tracing a lineage of productive North-Southeast partnerships from the first republic to the present.Nigeria travel guide
“Right from the beginning, this sort of alliance has been in existence. Now we are going back to what Tafawa Balewa did during their time,” he said.
He also referenced the collaboration between former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and leaders of the NCNC, as well as that of former President Shehu Shagari and his vice president, Alex Ekwueme, in the second republic.
“So also in the second republic, immediately after the war, our leaders, Shagari and others, worked very closely with the southeast, with Alex Ekwueme as his vice president. They are our friends. We want to work together with them,” he said.Politics
Kwankwaso also noted that subsequent administrations had shifted power-sharing away from the South-East, a pattern he suggested the current alliance was correcting.
“There was a change during the third republic where for many obvious reasons an election was annulled and the government under the military decided to bring in Shonekan from the South-West.
Even after that, the military and other leaders worked together and brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West again. Even Bola Tinubu probably is a beneficiary of all that,” he said.
He was emphatic that the choice of Obi was not driven by regional sentiment alone.
“It wasn’t just because we are going to the South-West just because of the South-West. No. We realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it and that’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
The movement of both men into the NDC has triggered a wave of defections, with senators, House of Representatives members and political blocs aligned with their former coalition gravitating toward the new party, rapidly reshaping calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.
The alliance pairs Kwankwaso’s northern grassroots structure and disciplined voter mobilisation with Obi’s national youth engagement and urban electoral momentum, positioning the NDC as one of the main opposition platforms set to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027
Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed suggestions that his exit from the African Democratic Congress has created a damaging split in the opposition.
He said he and Atiku Abubakar may yet work together before the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso spoke in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, responding to concerns that his move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Peter Obi had effectively divided the opposition into two competing blocs ahead of the polls.
“Now, we may still work together before the election. I personally, and I think even Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues,” he said
He said the ADC was contending with three major unresolved problems that he believed would make it difficult for the party to field candidates, without specifying what those issues were.
“Whether they will be able to field candidates in that party or not is just a matter of time. It’s not like we had a primary election,” he said
The remarks come after Atiku recently claimed on Arise TV that Kwankwaso’s popularity was confined to Kano State and further divided there by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Atiku, who is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, also described himself as the most popular politician of northern extraction, saying none of his contemporaries, including Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir El-Rufai, commanded a voter base across the North as wide as his.
Kwankwaso did not engage the slight directly, but made clear he bore no grudge.
“Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. I have no issue with that. I think we are past that level now,” he said.
He challenged those predicting a vote split in Kano to wait for the election result before drawing conclusions.
“Let’s wait for the election and see whether votes are split in Kano or not,” he said.
Kwankwaso also acknowledged a history of working with Atiku, recalling that he served as the former vice president’s northern coordinator during the 2019 presidential election.
“There was an election in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the north. We worked for him,” he said.
He traced his broader relationship with Atiku to the 2015 APC presidential primary in Lagos, where he placed second behind Muhammadu Buhari, with Atiku third.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expelled 30 members of the party for instituting legal actions against the party.
The affected members include some aspirants for the National Assembly, and their expulsion may disqualify them from participating in the party’s primary elections.
Disclosing this shortly after the meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sir Valentine Iyiegbu, told reporters that the decision was in line with Section 21, Subsection 5 of the party’s constitution.
“The party discussed those who took the party to court, and many of them are contesting for the House of Representatives tickets of the party,” he said.
“The matter comes up tomorrow, and the SEC stated that what the party constitution stipulates would be followed, which is outright expulsion from the party under Article 21, Subsection 5.”
“The SEC actually ratified their expulsion because they did not exhaust all the internal avenues provided by the party to resolve their grievances,” he added.
Iyiegbu noted that the only reprieve available to the expelled members would be for them to withdraw their court cases.
“It is only when the matters are withdrawn from the court that the party can consider listening to them,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s primary elections, he explained:
“In the case of those contesting for the tickets of the Federal House of Representatives, all the eleven positions have aspirants, while for the Senate, the three positions are also being contested. The screening committees were here to perform their duties,” he noted.
The party also ratified the appointment of a five-man Primary Elections Committee headed by Sir Izuchukwu Okeke, the State Organising Secretary of the party.
By PETRUS OBI
Frontline aspirant for the Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency seat, Anayo Onwuegbu, has successfully completed the screening exercise conducted by the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives screening panel in Abuja ahead of the party primaries scheduled for Friday, May 15, 2026.
Speaking after the exercise, Onwuegbu expressed satisfaction with the screening process, describing it as a reflection of the party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and credible leadership selection ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The aspirant, who is seeking to represent Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency under the platform of the APC, stated that he remains focused and prepared to continue to offer quality representation to the people of the constituency.
According to him, “The process once again highlights our party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and the emergence of credible leadership as we prepare for the 2027 general elections.”
He reaffirmed his dedication to the development of the constituency, pledging to serve the people with commitment and purpose if elected.
The APC House of Representatives primaries are expected to hold nationwide on Friday as aspirants battle for the party’s tickets ahead of the 2027 elections.
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