The race for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, especially in the House of Representatives, has split the minority caucus in the federal parliament, with the Peoples Democratic Party vowing not to allow its members to rebel against it.
Another major political alliance emerged in the House of Representatives last Thursday, about two weeks after members-elect on the platform of minority parties formed a coalition against the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The development divided the PDP caucus in the House, according to findings by one of our correspondents last Friday.
Members of the PDP, which is the majority among the minority parties with elected members for the 10th House of Representatives, are now at daggers drawn over the alliance between members of the opposition party and the APC.
Members-elect on the opposition side, some of whom were ranking PDP lawmakers, had met in Abuja, where they considered using their numbers as a bargaining power in their negotiations with the members seeking to be Speaker of the House.
The members-elect unanimously adopted the slogan, ‘10th Assembly: Greater Majority,’ at the meeting.
However, the APC-PDP alliance led by the member representing Akko Federal Constituency, Usman Kumo; and his Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency counterpart, Kingsley Chinda, which emerged on Thursday, adopted ‘Joint Task – 10th Assembly’.
Chinda is a loyalist to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, the leader of the G-5 PDP governors who allegedly formed an alliance with the APC and its presidential candidate, now president-elect, Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general elections.
While the ruling APC is struggling to maintain its majority status in the House, going by the results so far declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the 2023 general elections, the PDP caucus, leading the minority caucuses, has yet to present leadership for the opposition members-elect.
From the results of the 325 seats in the House so far declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the 2023 general elections, APC won 162 seats, while seven opposition parties have a total of 163 seats.
A twist, however, occurred last Thursday when a member of the APC and another in the opposition PDP jointly issued a statement in Abuja to announce an alliance across party lines, claiming that 283 members-elect of the House had resolved to abide by the zoning plan of the APC.
There are 360 members in the House.
In the statement jointly issued by Kumo and Chinda, the APC and PDP members claimed that they had the endorsement of governors across party lines as well as the National Working Committee of the several parties.
According to the serving members of the House, members of the coalition agree with whatever the APC’s zoning decision might be.
But a leader of the opposition coalition, Oluwole Oke, denied knowledge of the alliance between APC and PDP members, noting that various interest groups are expected at a time like this.
“In a parliament, we have so many fora, groups, and caucuses, e.g. The Voice, The Unity Group and so many others, to meet and plan to work together,” Oke said.
When contacted over the development in the House, a national officer of the PDP said the controversy surrounding the loyalty of its members-elect to the leadership of the party on how the leadership of the minority would emerge, would be addressed very soon.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, neither picked up his calls nor acknowledged messages sent to him via WhatsApp to react to the development.
