There was anxiety among the Peoples Democratic Party principal officers in the House of Representatives on Wednesday following Tuesday’s merger of the All Progressives Congress and the New Peoples Democratic Party. Findings indicated that the principal officers were concerned about how “the development would affect the majority position of the Peoples Democratic Party in the House.” One of the principal officers confirmed this just as our correspondent gathered on Wednesday that the PDP caucus in the House had summoned an emergency meeting for Thursday(today) to deliberate on the issue. The officer said, “Between Tuesday night and this morning (Wednesday), the merger raised concerns for many of the principal officers. “It means that some PDP positions in the House will have to be relinquished to the APC if the merger is crystalised and the PDP members in the five states join their governors in the defection drama. “They (principal officers) have been assessing the situation and the likely implications.” The fear by the principal officers however played out in a mild drama that ensued when the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, led the procession of principal officers into the chambers. Some members approached the Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, and jokingly asked him to change his position in the procession to where the Majority Leader, Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, was in a queue behind Tambuwal. The members were indirectly implying that he would swap his current position with Akande-Adeola’s. It was gathered that the PDP caucus meeting would touch on the merger and how it could affect the party. “It is more of looking at what has happened (merger) and discuss possible strategies to sustain the interest of the party”, a member of the caucus told our correspondent. But, when contacted , the Deputy House Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, dismissed the mention of fear gripping many of the principal officers. He declined further comments on the excuse that he would speak more at the appropriate time. But, another principal officer insisted that the 208 members of the PDP in the House were intact, as none had indicated that he was leaving the caucus. He said, “You have to understand some plain facts. “There is no crisis in the PDP; a court, in its ruling, said the PDP was not in crisis. “There are legal technicalities that may not make the situation as simple as you think.” The Chief Whip, Mr. Ishaka Bawa, also said the PDP was intact because no member had defected yet. Under the standing rules of the House, a member defecting from one party to another will inform the speaker, who will announce the defection openly on the floor. As of Wednesday, no lawmaker had signified that he had defected to another party. It will be recalled that when the factional crisis in the PDP broke out in August, 57 members of the House openly sided with the New PDP. The APC already had 137 members. When added to 57, the APC’s strength would have been 194. However, with the decision of Jigawa and Niger to remain in the PDP, the APC’s number will drop to 176 since Jigawa has 11 PDP members in the House and Niger, seven. However, findings showed that the PDP might still not retain the majority control because 176 out of 360 would give 184. A member of the APC in the House said, “Not all of this 184 are PDP members. There are nine Labour Party members from Ondo State alone. “There are five APGA members from Anambra State; one DPP member from Delta State; one PPN member from Ogun State and so on. “Plus, you don’t know for now how many more PDP governors will want to join the APC. “This gives you the general picture of which party will likely control the majority if the merger process is completed.” Appraising the unfolding events, Gbajabiamila said, “It is all good for democracy.” Asked to comment on the implications for the House, he replied that if the outcome of the merger showed that the APC was the majority party,”so be it; it is all about number. “But we are taking stock of our membership. “By Monday or Tuesday next week, we would have concluded taking stock. “Politics is a game of number. There will always be a majority party and a minority party. “Even in the United States, that is what is happening; the party that controls the House is not the same as the one controlling the government. “It is the beauty of democracy.” Before Gbajabiamila spoke, Tambuwal had said that it was the prerogative of a member to change party so long as he followed laid down procedures. In a statement from his office, the speaker said, “Lawmakers will decide collectively on if or when to defect. “They have their internal process if they decide to cross carpet; but let us wait and see whether they can activate the process or not.”
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 23:53:59 +0000
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