10th NASS Leadership: Tension as APC NWC throws contest open

DAILY TRUST

Barring any last-minute change, the National Working Committee, NWC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, will declare a free contest for principal officers of the 10th National Assembly.

The APC had zoned the Senate presidency to the South-South and the speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-West.
It announced Senator Godswill Akpabio, as its consensus candidate for Senate presidency and Senator Jibrin Barau, as the next Deputy Senate President in the 10th Assembly.

Similarly, the party zoned the speakership of the House of Representatives to a Kaduna lawmaker, Tajudeen Abbas, while Ben Kalu, a reps-elect from South-East, clinched the Deputy Speaker slot.

The APC zoning, however, elicited angry reactions from lawmakers-elect who had declared their intention to contest.

APC NWC recommends a free contest

Multiple sources told Vanguard that following the APC NWC’s suspicions that its proposed zoning may be thwarted, it is, however, recommending that the contest be thrown open.

A source, who spoke to Vanguard in confidence last night, said: “It appears the NWC is suspicious that their plan may not go as planned and that is why they are recommending a free contest.

”Secretly, they have recommended a free contest because they (NWC) have intelligence that the G-6 aspirants have already adopted a consensus candidate among themselves but they have not revealed the identity of that person.

”The G-6 aspirants are confusing the party, the Gbaja boys are also confused because they don’t know who they are throwing up.”
Another source told Vanguard that the G-6 speakership aspirants might have settled to pick a deputy speaker from the South-South geo-political zone.

“Secondly, they have got concrete information that the G-6 is going to the South-South to pick their deputy,” the source told Vanguard.

G-6 aspirants close in on consensus, ahead of inauguration

“There are issues and they need to be confronted because the more we delay in solving the issues once and for all, the more we keep on having fresh ones.

“For instance, we have credible intelligence that the aggrieved aspirants who have formed the G-6 are already in an alliance with the opposition parties.

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