NASS Officers Election: APC Lurks As Crisis Brews In PDP

The All Progressives Congress seems not to be the only one observing snags over leadership positions in the 8^th National Assembly as there are strong signs of a brewing crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party also.
This comes after one of the PDP’s senators, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity in Abuja, said powerful forces in the party were planning to install their allies as principal officers of the party in
the National Assembly.
It would be recalled that the party, through its national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, had on Wednesday, July 1, announced the zoning of the offices to different geo-political zones.
Metuh said that, in the Senate, the party has zoned the office of the Minority Leader to South-South, the position of the Minority Whip has been moved to North-Central, while the North-East and South-West will provide the Deputy Minority Leader and Deputy Minority Whip, respectively.
While at the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, Metuh said the PDP caucus in the chamber had already zoned the position of the Minority Leader to the South-South without informing the party, noting that the party had accepted the decision.
He said other offices as zoned by the party include; Minority Whip, to been taken to the North-West, Deputy Minority Leader to come from the South-East while the North-East will fill the position of the Deputy Minority Whip.

national publicity secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh and national publicity secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed

Reacting to the zoning, the senator revealed that trouble looms as some PDP influential leaders are going head-to-head against the party’s choice of principal officers, The Punch reports.
According to the senator, the influential leaders include; former president Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, as well as the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
It was gathered that the family of the former president was said to be rooting for Sen. George Sekibo as Minority Leader while both Ekweremadu and Wike are against such choice.
The immediate-past governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, is also said to have shown interest in the same position, but according to the senator, Akpabio’s ambition is against the senate rules on ranking.
He said: “We are seeing the All Progressives Congress crisis now, ours is also in the making because before July 21, if we too don’t sort ourselves out, we can at best say that what is capable of weakening the PDP ahead of its role as a viable opposition party in the years ahead may have been planted. 
“We all thought the issue of Senate Minority Leader has been laid to rest until the DSP (Deputy Senate President) called us for a meeting in his house where he sort peoples’ opinion on the propriety or otherwise of selecting Sen. John Eno for the position.
“I think it was from there the former Akwa-Ibom governor got the feeling that if the matter has to be revisited, then he would take a shot at it, but he doesn’t know that his ambition is against the rules of the senate as regards the selection of its Principal Officers.
“Before then, we were all facing the challenge of the suggestion by the former president and his wife that we should consider Sekibo who is from Rivers state but the duo of Ekweremadu and Wike kicked against it.”
The opposition party is expected to bring its decision on the zoning to the Senate on July 21, when the upper chamber resumes plenary.
Meanwhile, leaders of the APC will convene at the National Executive Committee meeting tomorrow which will be hosted by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Others expected to be at the meeting include, vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, senate president, Bukola Saraki, speaker of the house of representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the party’s 22 state governors and several other prominent members of the party.
The party leaders will meet to brainstorm on steps to be adopted in a move to put a stop to the ongoing crisis in the party.