It would be recalled that hours earlier, the Senate President and Speaker had, after a closed-door meeting with members, come up with other principal officers of the two chambers of the National Assembly by consensus, allegedly without input from the party hierarchy, unlike what played out in their emergence before they went on recess.
While Akpabio picked Opeyemi Bamidele, Dave Umahi, Ali Ndume and Lola Ashiru as Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip in the Senate respectively, Abbas named Julius Ihonvbere and Kingsley Chinda as Majority Leader and Minority Leader respectively in the House of Representatives.
They both represent the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The PDP, Labour Party, LP, and New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, shared other minority positions in the House of Representatives.
Angered by this development, the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee, NWC, of the APC, immediately disowned the majority leadership positions announced by Akpabio and Abbas, saying the party had not officially communicated with both presiding officers.
National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu disowned the leadership of the National Assembly, as governors elected on the platform of the party pledged their loyalty to the party leadership.
Adamu spoke at a meeting with the Progressive Governors’ Forum PGF, led by Senator Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, met with members of the National Working Committee, NWC, in Abuja yesterday.
Akpabio, Abbas on their own — APC
Addressing the governors, Adamu said it is the party’s responsibility to communicate such decisions to the assembly leadership, saying the NWC under him is not about to break away from tradition.
“The election of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President, the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives have been determined and they have now assumed their responsibilities.
“The remaining offices at the two chambers is yet to be done. I had a courtesy call on Saturday from the President of the Senate and his deputy. The following day which was Sunday, I received a visit from the Speaker and his deputy coming to me for Sallah’s homage.
“But I am just hearing rumours now from the online media that there have been some announcements in the Senate and House of Representatives. The national headquarters of the party or the NWC has not given any such information or communicated about the choice of the remaining offices and until we formally resolve and communicate to them in writing which is the normal practice as had been done before we came here, it is not our intention to break away from tradition.
“So, whatever announcement is done either by the President of the Senate, Deputy Senate President, Speaker or Deputy Speaker, is not from this secretariat.
“We are going to formally inform you that we are going to have a caucus. For quite some time, there has been no caucus in place. The caucus has been reconstituted according to the constitution of APC and we will be discussing that with you.
‘’As governors, you know your states more than we know it. Even if we come from the same state, the leadership is in you as governors. We will hear your advice and then see how we can ensure that we are in complete compliance with the provisions of the constitution of the party.
“We hope we will be receiving some reports from the Progressive Governors Forum chairman or his representative, to get to know your thinking, your feelings on what to do to improve the chances of the party and, therefore, reduce the problems and bickerings we have been hearing from time to time.
“Along with the caucus, the National Advisory Council, we will give you the list that has been prepared and make sure every state is represented and we will give you the knowledge of it before the date so that if there is any advice, you will give us before the date.
‘’You will also be given the details of the audit of accounts from April 2022 to April 2023. The Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, the account has been audited and it has been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, by the party”.
APC govs speak
In his remarks at the meeting, Uzodimma said: “I think the party has a responsibility, working with progressive governors, speaking for all progressive minds in the country, to support the policies and programmes of the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president.
“While we are doing that, we are also ready to market these policies to critical stakeholders, organized labour, the political class, the private sector, into understanding the benefits of certain decisions that have been taken of late by the government.
“We are loyal to the party completely, and we assure the leadership of the party that all the governors here are constructive partners in the job of building our party and are willing to work with the party and submit to the ideas and norms of the party.
“We don’t have another party. This party is the largest party in black and white Africa, and we will have to run with it”.
Speaking after the meeting, he said the NWC is working on having an audited account that would be presented to the national caucus. It was just mentioned, it has not been presented”, he stated.
On Adamu’s position on the principal officers of the National Assembly, Uzodinma said: “Chairman never said they are on their own. The National Assembly leadership belongs to our great party and they are members of our party and they enjoy our support.
“If there is any way there is a communication gap anywhere, we will make it up and we have our internal mechanism of resolving such things. The National Assembly leadership enjoys the support of the Progressive Governors’ Forum and that of our party. We don’t have any problem at all.”
Some of the governors at the meeting were those of Imo, Kogi, Ekiti, Niger, Ebonyi, Benue, Jigawa and several others.
