A House Divided

Nigerians are divided over the manner the leadership of the National Assembly emerged on Tuesday. While some say the emergence of Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives, was a welcome development for our democracy, others view the manner in which they emerged as a brazen insult and assault. This latter group said a quorum was not formed before the selection of Saraki took place. This group argues that at least 75 senators ought to have participated in the process instead of the 57 that took part.

A crisis of monumental proportions may be brewing in the National Assembly in the days ahead as a result of the events of Tuesday. Already, members of Senate Unity Forum, a group of Senators in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, who were in support of the failed bid of Senator Ahmed Lawan of Yobe State to become the President of the eighth Senate of the National Assembly, vowed that they would go to court to challenge the emergence of Senator Saraki as the President of the Senate.

What could be described as coup took place in the Senate on Tuesday while  APC Senators were waiting to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. It was while they were at the venue of the meeting that did not hold that Senator Saraki was elected as the President by mostly Senators elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, after the proclamation of the Senate by the Clerk.

The leadership of APC promptly rejected the election of Saraki as Senate President and vowed to punish party members  who were involved in the grand conspiracy and treachery to undermine the party’s desire to pick candidates of its choice for the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. These are Senator Ahmed Lawan for Senate presidency and Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the House of Representatives. George Akume, the preferred candidate of APC for the position of Deputy Senate President, also lost out to PDP’s Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu.

Since the deed has been done, APC must immediately embark on damage control to douse the tension generated by the controversial National Assembly election. It will no longer be business as usual as what happened on Tuesday will have far reaching consequences in the immediate aftermath of the election. The manner APC handles this issue will determine the fate of the party in the future. The party must learn from the mistakes of PDP which led to its eventual disintegration and shameful defeat in the 2015 general elections.

We believe it is too early in the day for APC to be enmeshed in this kind of crisis that is threatening to tear it apart. Nigerians who voted for APC would end up with the short end of the stick if the party fails to deliver the much touted change it promised during the electioneering campaign because it allowed itself to be distracted by avoidable internal wrangling. The electorate did not bargain for this. The leadership of APC should bury their personal interest, speak with one voice and allow national interest to prevail in the conduct of the affairs of the party. The consequences of a divided house would be too grave to contemplate.