9th NASS: PDP Forecloses Contest For Senate President, Speaker

…Picks Abaribe, Dogara as Senate, House Minority
Leaders

LEADERS of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) may have foreclosed the chance of any of its members
contesting for the post of Senate President or Speaker of the House
of Representatives in the incoming ninth National Assembly, sources
close to the party have said, Tribune reports.

Investigations by the Sunday Tribune confirmed that leaders of
the party had been brainstorming about the role of the PDP in the
incoming Assembly due for inauguration in June.

It was confirmed that at formal and informal settings in recent
weeks, the issue of how to handle the next National Assembly
leadership had dominated discussions within the opposition
party.

First, it was concluded that the party would not make public its
choice of Senate President and Speaker among the contestants on the
ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) until very close to
the inauguration of the new Assembly.

Sources said that party leaders have resolved to keep the APC
guessing on this matter and that the final meeting that would
arrive at the choice of the candidate for Senate President and
Speaker would only be known days to the elections.

A source in the know said that members of the National Working
Committee of the PDP and the lawmakers-elect in the Senate and the
House have been talking with no final decision reached on the
contestants for the nation’s number three and four positions so
far.

It was gathered that leaders of the party have also resolved to
tell members of the party elected into the ninth Senate and House
of Representatives not to drag the presiding officer positions with
any of the APC members.

A source said that the party analysed its take on the 2015 to
2019 National Assembly and then resolved to change its
strategy.

“It was good enough that we foisted a sort of hybrid Senate on
the National Assembly in 2015 and then we also ensured that our
loyalists in the person of the Speaker of the House, Honourable
Yakubu Dogara got elected in 2015.

“It served as a morale booster that equally helped to galvanise
our members in the two chambers. But going forward, it has been
adopted that none of our members would drag the presiding officer
positions with the APC in June. The idea is to make impact without
necessarily dragging positions,” the source said.

Another source stated that the PDP has resolved to allow the APC
run its government so that the main opposition party can face the
role of opposition between 2019 and 2023.

“During the 2019 electioneering, the APC went about blaming its
failure on the hostile National Assembly being led by the
opposition. Right now, we are of the view that the idea has served
its purpose. From now, we won’t give further room for unfounded
excuses by the APC,” the source stated.

It was also gathered that the party has resolved to pick the
Senator representing Abia South, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who
currently chairs the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development
and Metallurgy as its Minority Leader in the ninth Senate.

Sources also said that Hon. Dogara has been chosen as the
Minority Leader of the 9th House of Representatives.

In picking the duo, it was gathered that the party is gunning
for consistency and loyalty, while also appreciating Dogara for his
firm grip on members in the House.

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