Embarrassed by the needless
threats and vitriolic vituperation from the leaders of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, as a result of the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon.
Yakubu Dogara as Ssenate President and
Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, President
Muhammadu Buhari has prevailed on leaders of the party to sheathe their swords.
In fact, it took a personal
communication between Mr. President and Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie
Oyegun, before the breaks could be applied.
Consequently, it was Chief
Oyegun who told State House correspondents on Friday after a brief meeting with
the President that the party has accepted Saraki and Dogara as leaders of the
National Assembly – its 8th session.
Dogara and Saraki
Dogara and Saraki
Sunday Vanguard gathered that
Buhari, who had just a few hours after the emergence of the senator and the
House member, issued a statement through his Special Adviser on Public Affairs,
Femi Adeshina, congratulating them and averring that a constitutional process
has just taken place, used the opportunity of the presentation of the handover
notes on Friday, to speak directly with Oyegun on the matter.
Sunday Vanguard was also able
to confirm that Oyegun, sensing the tone of the communication between him and
Mr. President quickly used the opportunity of the press chat to make the
detour, “as demanded by President Buhari”, a source revealed.
Oyegun’s recant was in complete
opposition to the earlier position, though unspoken, taken by APC’s National
Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, whose hands and legs were alleged to be in the
heated politicking to ensure that Senator Ahmed Lawan and George Akume emerged
as Senate President and Deputy Senate President, respectively, while Femi
Gbajabiamila emerged as Speaker of the House.
Indeed, sources close to Buhari
informed Sunday Vanguard that by Wednesday, after the Senator Barnabas
Gemade-led Unity Group members of the Senate took their oath, and the drama
that followed with the walkout and the threat of litigation, made worse by the
snubbing of Senate President Saraki by wife of APC’s National Leader, Senator
Oluremi Tinubu, the President and a few people in is inner circle were
beginning to get worried.
Therefore, it was agreed that
before his trip yesterday to South Africa for the Africa Union Summit, the
matter must be laid to rest.
It was this decision that
informed the presence of Oyegun at Friday’s meeting after which he spoke to
members of the press.
It was a difficult pill for a
section of the leadership of the APC to swallow as almost all stops had been
pulled to ensure that Lawan and Akume emerged, just as it was hoped that
Gbajabiamila would win the speakership.
It all turned out to be fools’ errand as none of these materialized.
Even the last minute
name-dropping, of summoning a meeting of APC legislators for 9am on Monday
morning knowing that the inauguration was slated for an hour later, and
claiming that the meeting was called by President Buhari, a situation which
strangely gave way to the loss and comeuppance, did not bode well with Mr.
President.
And whereas he had grudgingly
agreed to attend the meeting that morning in honour of the party, President
Buhari had been very insistent in maintaining that he would not interfere with
the process that would lead to the emergence of the leaders of the National
Assembly.
Sunday Vanguard was made to
understand that whereas backroom channels were also used to call some leaders
of the party who were baying for blood to order, Buhari had been making it
known to those who had sought his views on the emergence of Saraki and Dogara
that the peace, stability and progress of Nigeria far outweighed any
individual’s ambition “to be in charge”.
And although the source bluntly
refused to be dragged into explaining the veiled phrase, political observers
were clear in their perception that APC’s National Leader may have been the
arrowhead of the wing of APC that wanted Lawan and Akume as well as
Gbajabiamila.
All attempts to get some
leaders of the party to comment on the matter were unsuccessful.
In fact, one of the leaders of
the APC was so bitter about Oyegun’s statement that he charged: “Go and ask the
chairman who made the statement”
Culled: vanguard
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