Findings in Abuja on Sunday showed that the candidates – Yakubu Dogara (House of Reps) and Bukola Saraki (Senate) had intensified lobbying the Peoples Democratic Party incoming lawmakers.
Senators-elect and their counterparts for the House began accreditation for the Tuesday election at the National Assembly in Abuja on Sunday.
The immediate past Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, had at the party’s mock election on Saturday emerged the APC consensus candidate for the post of speaker. He polled 154 votes as against Yakubu Dogara’s 3 votes.
A total of 183 members registered for the mock election but the votes of four were declared as invalid.
Bukola Saraki’s group boycotted the primary conducted for senate presidency , but the APC picked Ahmad Lawan, who got 32 votes.
Votes allocated to Dogora, a fraud, says Jibrin
But on Sunday, the spokesperson for the 8th Assembly Consolidation Group which is Dogara’s campaign body, Abdulmumin Jibrin, warned that the APC was on a path of self-destruction by sticking to the outcome of the primary.
Jibrin, a former Chairman, House Committee on Finance and contestant for the speakership until last week when he stepped down to support Dogara, insisted that there was no election.
“The mock election is a blatant lie. It was very shameful and disgraceful and the party only made a mockery of itself. We walked out of the hall and we never participated in the election. Therefore, the votes allocated to us were a fraud and we will not accept them,” he told a news conference.
Jibrin claimed that members of the group had received threats of disciplinary actions from the party since Saturday, but he restated the resolve of Dogara’s supporters to ignore the APC and nominate him (Dogora) for Tuesday’s election.
Disclosing that the group had petitioned Buhari to wade into the matter, he said it was regrettable that in just a week after the APC formed the government at the Federal level, it appeared set on “derailing” from the ideals which propelled it to power.
“We have decided to write a petition to Buhari to intervene in this matter; to call the party to order. We will go ahead to nominate Dogara on the 9th and we will not back out,” he said.
The group seized the opportunity to unveil Lasun Yusuf, a member from Osun State, as Dogora’s running mate.
Yusuf, had last week, announced that he was backing Gbajabiamila, only to make a U-turn on Sunday.
Support us, Gbajabiamila’s secretariat tells Dogara
Shortly after the news conference, The Gbajabiamila Secretariat in Abuja called on the Dogara group to bury the hatchet and join the Lagos State lawmaker to build the House as from Tuesday.
It noted that had Dogara won the mock election instead of Gbajabiamila, the former minority leader would have supported him, being the candidate so chosen by the party.
The secretariat, also said there was nothing strange in conducting a mock election, which it argued was not different from the primaries members participated in before their election to the National Assembly.
He was said to be already assured of the votes of 47 out of the 48 APC members from the South-West.
Findings revealed that the North-West, with 87 APC lawmakers, had over 84 backing Gbajabiamila.
A returning member of the House, who asked not to be named said, “Kano, with the largest state caucus, has 24 members; 21 voted for Gbajabiamila on Saturday and will repeat the same on Tuesday.
“Jigawa has 11 members, all whom are with Gbajabiamila.’’
35 out of the 39 APC members from the North-East are firmly backing Gbajabiamila.
A top APC member, who also spoke with Punch in Abuja, said, “The project in the House is tied to the project of Senator Ahmed Lawan, who is contesting the President of the Senate. It is the same project and we will keep to it until victory is won on Tuesday."
APC cautions aggrieved candidates
The APC has however enjoined the aggrieved candidates and their supporters to put its interest and that of the nation above their personal interests.
It said that it was natural for people to feel disappointment after losing a contest.
The party said, “However, we must put the interest of our party above personal interests and avoid a situation whereby any other candidates, apart from those picked by the party, will emerge as Senate President and House Speaker on Tuesday.
"Any outstanding issues will be resolved by the party so we won’t go into Tuesday’s election with more than one candidate each for the two posts – Senate Presidency and Speakership.”
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