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| Bamanga Tukur |
•APC lures members with automatic tickets
By Onwuka Nzeshi
Ahead of the 2015 general election, the numerical
superiority of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of
Representatives may have come under threat as the yet-to-be-registered All
Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced an intensive campaign to lure
legislators elected on the platform of the ruling party to defect en masse to
the opposition party.
Under the current configuration of political parties in the
House, the ruling party has 204 members, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has
68, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has 40 while All Nigeria Peoples
Party (ANPP) has 27.
The other parties, namely Accord has 5, All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) – 7, Labour Party (LP) – 8 and Democratic Peoples Party
(DPP) has only one member.
It is uncertain if APC has turned its attention to the
Senate, but its current configuration is made up of PDP – 75, ACN – 18, ANPP –
8, CPC – 4, APGA – 1, LP – 2, and DPP – 1.
However, indications have emerged that the opposition is
working towards changing the configuration in the lower chamber in its bid to
pull the rug under the feet of the ruling party.
The thinking is that if the coalition of merging opposition
parties gradually gains more seats in the National Assembly ahead of the 2015
crucial polls, it will translate to their constituencies embracing the
opposition party.
This is similar to the calculations of the opposition in the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) where it has been speculated that a number of
PDP governors may leave the PDP to either join the APC to facilitate the
conversion of their states or form another party.
THISDAY gathered that the plot to overrun the parliament
began before the lawmakers embarked on their mid-term break and that the
defection may commence when the lawmakers resume.
Some lawmakers of the ruling party who were approached to
dump their party disclosed that they were being lured with promises of free
tickets in the next parliamentary polls.
It was also gathered that the recruitment drive has also
been extended to some smaller opposition parties.
One of the legislators, who spoke to THISDAY on the
condition of anonymity, said the PDP in the Green Chamber, had become an
endangered specie with the incursion daily of the opposition into its
territory.
According to the lawmaker, the ruling party may become easy
prey because of the apparent “abandonment” of the PDP lawmakers by the
leadership of the ruling party over the last two years.
“The opposition is waxing stronger everyday. They've been
wooing our colleagues with free tickets to contest the next elections. What
they tell you is that if you join them, your return ticket is secured; you will
not need to worry yourself about spending money to run primaries and later, the
main elections.
“But some of us are sceptical about the whole thing. I am
not comfortable with such promises because we are all politicians and we know
that any thing could happen.
“We know that there are many people in the queue wanting to
come to the National Assembly, even among those already in the opposition.
“There is also the fear that the characters piloting this
so-called opposition could be very funny. We know that in terms of internal
democracy they are no better than the PDP and so anybody crossing over would be
doing so at his or her own risk,” the lawmaker said.
Another legislator, who also spoke in confidence with
THISDAY, said the PDP members have been operating like orphans in the last two
years.
The legislator blamed the situation on the inability of the
leadership of the party and that of the House to reconcile their differences
and work together after the election that saw lawmakers elected on the platform
of the PDP voting against the party’s candidates during the election of
principal officers.
“Now you can see what is happening; the party is losing
grounds every day in the chamber. You can see the kind of motions and bills we
take.
“If all is well, some of these things will not be happening because
the PDP is in power. But what can anyone do, when the party does not even care
about its members?
“It is true that some of our members defied the directive of
our party and voted for Tambuwal. When the party lost the battle, it insisted
that Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola should be made House leader.
“But have they empowered her to really lead the House and
mobilise members of her party to support the party’s agenda in parliament? You
can’t lead people just like that; there must be incentives to keep the loyalty
of members alive,” the legislator said.
In reaction to this development, Deputy Chairman, House
Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Afam Ogene, said he was not aware
of any campaign to lure members to defect to the APC.
The lawmaker also expressed doubts that serving members
could yield to such political gimmicks to jettison the PDP.
“It can't be true. Why would any serving member be lured to
another party because of the promise of a free ticket for the next election? I
don't see how another party’s ticket can become so germane to an incumbent
lawmaker.
“Every serving member is more than a ticket because he or
she came to the House on the ticket of a party,” Ogene said.
On June 6, 2011, some
legislators elected on the platform of the PDP had teamed up with the
opposition to elect Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as
Deputy Speaker against the zoning arrangement of their party.
Besides the open secret that the current leadership of the
House owes its historic victory to the opposition, THISDAY gathered that the
stand of the party was worsened by the cold shoulder with which the leadership
of the party received the results of that election.
Since then, the “rejected” leadership has found succour in
the hands of the opposition as there has been no deliberate effort by the PDP
to groom a strong caucus in the parliament to maximise the advantages of its
numerical strength.
Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, a
member of the ACN and arrowhead of the APC in the chamber, had a couple of
months ago, told the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the ruling party, Chief Tony Anenih, that
the opposition would slug it out with the ruling party in 2015.
Gbajabiamila's comments came same day Anenih led members of
the BoT on a visit presumably to mend fences with its flock in the lower
chamber of the National Assembly.
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