THE President is under pressure to save former Speaker Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Bayero Nafada. They are facing charges at the High Court for alleged fraud.
Speaker Aminu Tambuwal has met with Dr Goodluck Jonathan twice in the last 72 hours.
The “peace” meeting was said to have been at the instance of Senate President David Mark, whose plan is to put the seventh National Assembly on a sound footing, according to sources.
Many prominent Nigerians are mounting pressure on President Jonathan for a “political solution” to Bankole’s travails. They include many former and present members of the House, who are insisting that Bankole and Nafada are victims of politics.
The President, according to sources, met with the House leaders at the Presidential Villa on Monday and Tuesday.
A source, who pleaded not to be named because he is not permitted to speak to the media, said: “I think a rapprochement is in the offing between the President and the House leaders.
“Eminent Nigerians have intervened and they are already prevailing on Jonathan to overlook any political distortion which the emergence of Tambuwal would have caused.
“The new House leadership has also been humble in approaching the President informally at the Villa on Monday and Tuesday to resolve the crisis of confidence.
“Tambuwal and his deputy explained that they are not out to oppose the President in any manner. They also debunked allegations that those opposed to the President were behind their election.
“I think Jonathan may at the end of the day forgive these House leaders. The credit of the peace being brokered goes to the President of the Senate, who has been facilitating reconciliation at different levels.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “The House leaders also raised concern over the ongoing trial of Bankole and Nafada. They will prefer a political solution to the matter.”
A former principal officer of the 6th House of Representatives, who also pleaded not to be named, said: “Most of us believe that Bankole and Nafada are being persecuted purely for political reasons, especially for defying the directive of the Peoples Democratic Party on zoning for the emergence of Tambuwal.
“Bankole and Nafada are also paying for their sins for not re-amending the Open-Secret Voting System put in place by the 6th House, which paved the way for Tambuwal’s success.
“But, instead of blaming Bankole and Nafada, the PDP leadership should account for how things went wrong for the anointed candidate of the party, Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola.
“The party leadership came to breathe down on new members of the House on why they must vote for Mrs Akande-Adeola. Our party leaders even threatened sanctions as if these new House members were school boys and girls.”
On how the House leadership ran into trouble, the source added: “Following agitations from members, we decided to ‘collapse all working costs’ duly appropriated in the budget and allocate equally to all members.”
Following the crisis over zoning – the PDP’s power sharing formula – the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday set up a committee to review the situation.
Zoning was truncated by the election of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal from the Northwest and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha, from the Southeast. The positions were zoned to Southwest and Northeast.
The party leaders were said to have been sharply divided over the issue. Some were said to be of the opinion that zoning should be laid to rest, others insisted that zoning must be sustained for the overall interest of the country”.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Prof Rufai Ahmed Alkali, told reporters after the NWC meeting that the in-house committee would advise the NWC on the “way forward”.
Alkali did not give details of the composition of the committee and when it is expected to submit its report.
When asked what the position of the PDP’s leadership is on the zone to produce the next chairman, Alkali declined comments, saying the issue was not discussed at the meeting.
Besides, he did not speak on how the PDP intends to rein in its “straying” members in the House.
“The preoccupation of the NWC now is how to stabilise the system and the National Assembly,” Alkali said.
But, a source close to the meeting said the two issues on the day’s agenda were “zoning and party issues”.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add A Comment