THE curtain will be drawn on the race for the four top offices of the National Assembly on Tuesday. New lawmakers are expected to be sworn in and immediately elect their leaders, namely the Senate President and his deputy, and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the House of Representatives.
Aspirants to the top offices have stepped up their campaigns. Abuja is a beehive. Nigeria’s most luxurious hotel, Transcorp, is the centre of action for the Senate race. An aspirant holds court in the hotel, doling out cash in local and hard currencies.
Prominent figures from different states are trooping there to “obtain” – apologies to a politician from Delta State in the General Ibrahim Babangida era. The abode of the newbreed politician, as Babangida called them, who was campaigning for governor, had turned into a collection centre for anybody, relevant and irrelevant, who desired thousands of crisp naira notes.
At the Transcorp last week, a chieftain of a socio-cultural group whose kinsmen are known to protest perceived marginalisation in governmental affairs, visited an aspirant with the deepest of pockets to pledge support. A senator-elect and kinsman of the chieftain ushered him into the aspirant’s suite.
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Once they got into the suite, the Senator-elect showered praises on his kinsman. He spoke of his towering stature as a politician, businessman and leader of the socio-cultural organisation. With him, he assured the aspirant, senators from the zone of the chieftain will vote for him. A senator present almost shouted “Chineke!” that is “my God!”
Satisfied that he had secured the commitment of every senator from the zone, he thanked the chieftain for his coming and support. Of course, that came with a massive envelope containing some bundles of the much sought-after dollar notes.
PDP plot against APC
The main opposition party is plotting to take control of at least a chamber of the National Assembly. Its plan is to get its member to win the race for either Speaker of the House or President of the Senate.
Alternatively, it is plotting to back a recalcitrant APC member, thereby torpedoing the zonal arrangement of the ruling party.
The worst case scenario for the PDP is a re-enactment of the 2011 episode when Aminu Tambuwal defied the PDP and aligned with the then ACN to defeat Mulikat Akande for the office of Speaker.
The arrowheads of the PDP onslaught are Bukola Saraki, whose wings have been clipped in Kwara, Tambuwal who failed to install his preferred candidate as governor in Sokoto and some erstwhile journalists-turned consultants and strategists.
The PDP chiefs are queuing behind Yari and keeping their choice for Speaker close to their chests. Their resolve: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must not have his way.