The Femi Gbajabiamila group of the two All Progressives Congress factions at the House of Representatives has rejected the latest zoning proposals on principal officers by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.
The group, which calls itself APC Loyalists’ Group, wrote the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, formally rejecting Dogara’s proposals.
The letter, dated July 18, was made available to The PUNCH on Monday and it confirmed the deepening nature of the leadership tussle.
It was signed by the spokesman of the group, Mr. Nasir Zangon-Daura.
The PUNCH had reported exclusively last week that moves to reconcile the two sides, including an intervention by the Governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, merely left deepening disagreements.
The letter called on the APC to assert its authority in party affairs rather than continue to allow Dogara get away with what it considered to be disloyalty to the party.
It noted that, having emerged as the speaker against the APC’s initial projection that the South-West should produce the speaker, the members expected Dogara to exhibit the “spirit of give and take” by allowing the APC to decide how the remaining principal offices should be shared.
The group stated, “Mr. Chairman, history beckons and posterity will always judge our conduct and contributions to the development of our democracy. A political party is an institution and its supremacy is universal and not a Nigerian coinage.
“It is on record that the Speaker defied the party going into the elections and he is about to repeat such defiance. The party must assert its authority over all its members, the Speaker inclusive, as none of us came to the House as independent candidates and we subscribed expressly and impliedly to the party’s supremacy in political activities.
“Article 9.2 of the APC constitution which we all subscribed to states, ‘Members of the party shall be obligated to affirm the party’s aims and objectives.’ The party’s letter to the Speaker on party positions forms part of the aims and objectives of the party.
Furthermore, the President (Muhammadu Buhari) himself has spoken severally that the party is supreme and its decision must be obeyed.”
It will be recalled that Odigie-Oyegun, in a June 23 letter to Dogara, had communicated the APC’s recommendation to zone the office of Majority Leader to the South-West; Deputy Leader to the North-West; Chief Whip to the North-East and Deputy Whip to the South-South.
But, the speaker declined to name the officers, saying that he was restrained by a court process filed by some lawmakers opposing the APC’s decision.
He also argued that the recommendations of the party negated the Federal Character Principle enshrined in the 1999 Constitution since some zones would be left without a principal position in the House.
Dogara had claimed that since the North-East and the South-West had already produced the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, they should not be given additional positions.
His refusal to name the officers had led to the fracas on the floor of the House on June 25, later sending members on a forced four-week break.
In place of the party’s recommendation, Dogara on Thursday last week, wrote Odigie-Oyegun, altering the party’s position with his own proposals.
Dogara zoned the majority leader to the North-West; deputy leader to the North-Central; chief whip to the South-South; and deputy whip to the South-East in defence of his argument that each zone must be represented on the leadership.
But, in writing Odigie-Oyegun, the Gbajabiamila group dismissed the latest proposals, pointing out that it seemed the whole idea was to keep Gbajabiamila out of the leadership structure by all means.
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