The politics of the 10th national assembly is heating up as even the opposition political parties who don’t have the numerical power are trying to have a say in how the leadership of the assembly is organized.
OsunDaily News recalls that after the February 25, 2023, presidential and national assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, winner of the presidential election while the party won majority of the seats in the national assembly.
In the 325 seats out of the 360 seats declared conclusive for the House of Representatives as of the first week of March, the APC won 162 seats, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), 102; Labour Party (LP), 34; New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), 18; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA),4; African Democratic Congress (ADC), 2; Social Democratic Party (SDP), 2 and Young Progressives Party (YPP) has one seat.
While in the Senate, the APC secured a total of 38 seats, PDP 21 seats, while LP had 4 seats.
Hence, this means that the APC will be fully in charge of the 10th assembly. This also means that the ruling political party will likely produce the senate president, the deputy senate president, the speaker, and the deputy speaker.
Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th assembly in June 2023, both those in the ruling party and the opposition parties have started playing underground politics to get a stake in the leadership of the forthcoming 10th assembly.
Who has declared interest in becoming the Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives of the 10th Assembly?
Since the president-elect is a Muslim from the southwest and the vice president is a Muslim from the northeast, there have been agitations for a Christian from the southeast or north-central to emerge as the senate president and speaker.
However, the Northwest is also pushing for the seat(s) in the 10th assembly. Also, some Muslim members are yet to buy the idea of leaving the two seats for Christian members.
Amidst that, names like Orji Uzor Kalu, Barau Bibrin, Godswill Akpabio, Adams Oshiomhole, Abdul-Aziz Yari, Dave Umahi and Sani Musa have all declared interest in the seat of the Senate President. But since Musa is a Muslim, he is reportedly willing to drop to the deputy senate president level.
While in the House of Representatives, former Speaker of Plateau House of Assembly, Yusuf Gagdi; incumbent Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Ahmed Wase, Tunji Olawuyi, Aliyu Betara, and Benjamin Kalu have all declared interest in becoming the speaker of the House.
What the minor political parties are saying
Since the politics of the national assembly is all about the majority, the minor political parties have the choice of just sitting on the fence or forming alliances amongst themselves to push for their interests.
In reaction to the potential politics that might play out in the 10th assembly, the national publicity secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Major Agbo has stressed that his party would work with other parties whose ideology is similar to that of the NNPP.
On the part of the Labour Party, the national chairman of the party, Barr Julius Abure had said the party would monitor the process to ensure that the right thing is done.
He said, “Today, I can announce to you that we have eight senators and 34 House of Representatives seats. As of today, we do not control the majority but we will watch and see what other parties will do before we take a stand.
“They can resist infiltration. We will build on the successes recorded by the party and we will monitor what other parties will be doing at the National Assembly before we take a stand”.
On the other hand, the national publicity secretary of the major opposition party, the PDP, Hon Debo Ologunagba, had said the party would take a stand after consulting with the party’s stakeholders.
“People are free to lobby. But as I said, we will not reveal our strategy,” he added.
The card the opposition parties might play
One of the ways the opposition parties can outsmart the ruling party in the 10th assembly is to find a way to work in a strong alliance. As it currently stands, they can make so much impact, especially in the national House of representatives if the alliance works out.
This is so because currently, the APC has a total of 162 seats in the House of Representatives out of 360. While all the opposition parties have a total of 163 seats altogether.
But this could change if one of the sides wins more seats from the remaining 33 seats that will be decided on April 15 through a supplementary election.
If the opposition parties manage to win more seats from the remaining 33 constituencies that will be decided in April and they can form the alliance that is being speculated, the likelihood of having a speaker of the national house of representatives from the opposition party will be very high in the 10th assembly.
