APC House of Reps Members Take Over Leadership from PDP
The the All Progressives Congress in the House of Representatives has
shared out the leadership positions in the House to its members as part
of plans to assume full control of the legislature this New Year.
The APC, formerly the leading opposition in the House, outgrew the majority strength of the PDP after some of the party's members, 37 PDP lawmakers, defected to the APC on December 18, 2013.
The development gave the country’s main opposition party a slim majority advantage of 172 members over the PDP’s 171 in the House that has 360 legislators.
“The only principal officer whose seat is guaranteed for now is the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal,” a source in the House told Punch in Abuja on Tuesday.
Investigations showed that until now, the APC caucus had resolved that its Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, would become the Majority Leader.
The current majority leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, a PDP member, is expected to relinquish her seat.
However, Punch gathered that Gbajabiamila had recently come under pressure to “step up and become the deputy speaker instead of being the majority leader.”
The lawmaker from Lagos was said to be resisting the pressure and had urged members to allow the current Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, retain his seat like Tambuwal.
“The confusion now is that Gbajabiamila is caught between being the majority leader and deputy speaker”, another source in the House informed Punch.
It was learnt that in the event he succumbed to pressure to become the deputy speaker, the post of majority leader might be assigned to one of the 37 PDP defectors.
“That is the thinking of the caucus; the idea is to give the ex-PDP members a sense of belonging. They should have something to benefit for supporting the APC”, the source added.
The APC, formerly the leading opposition in the House, outgrew the majority strength of the PDP after some of the party's members, 37 PDP lawmakers, defected to the APC on December 18, 2013.
The development gave the country’s main opposition party a slim majority advantage of 172 members over the PDP’s 171 in the House that has 360 legislators.
“We have long resolved that Tambuwal will remain the speaker even in an APC dominated House until he decides to dump the PDP for the APC. For the other positions, we are taking over. We are electing a new deputy speaker also.”With about 40 more PDP lawmakers expected to join the APC this January, 2014, the opposition party will be in a comfortable majority of 212 and automatically assume the leadership of the House.
“The only principal officer whose seat is guaranteed for now is the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal,” a source in the House told Punch in Abuja on Tuesday.
Investigations showed that until now, the APC caucus had resolved that its Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, would become the Majority Leader.
The current majority leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, a PDP member, is expected to relinquish her seat.
However, Punch gathered that Gbajabiamila had recently come under pressure to “step up and become the deputy speaker instead of being the majority leader.”
The lawmaker from Lagos was said to be resisting the pressure and had urged members to allow the current Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, retain his seat like Tambuwal.
“The confusion now is that Gbajabiamila is caught between being the majority leader and deputy speaker”, another source in the House informed Punch.
It was learnt that in the event he succumbed to pressure to become the deputy speaker, the post of majority leader might be assigned to one of the 37 PDP defectors.
“That is the thinking of the caucus; the idea is to give the ex-PDP members a sense of belonging. They should have something to benefit for supporting the APC”, the source added.
