Senate Presidency: Tinubu assigns Lawan, Gbajabiamila to resolve tussle on zoning arrangements

President Bola Tinubu has waded into the leadership crisis arising from zoning arrangements of the National Assembly presiding officers as he assigned the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to come up with amicable resolution of the crisis.

The directive was handed to the two presiding officers at a meeting held at the Presidential Villa on Thursday between President Tinubu and the duo of Senate President Lawan and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Gbajabiamila.

Investigations by our correspondent in Abuja revealed that Tinubu, following a series of complaints that greeted the Zoning arrangement of the two chambers of the federal parliament, decided to intervene in order to find an amicable solution to the issue which was already creating tension among the senators-elect.

A reliable source at the Presidential Villa, who spoke in confidence on Thursday night said Tinubu had specifically gave a definite assignment to Lawan and Gbajabiamila to ensure that double nomination was avoided in both chambers on June 13.

It was also said that the presiding officers told the President pointblank that there was no way a zoning arrangement which excludes the North Central and gave two slots to the North West would work.

The source said, “The President has given the duo of Senate President and Speaker, a specific assignment to resolve the crisis created by the zoning of presiding officers positions announced by the All Progressives Congress last month.

“The President wanted to avoid all forms of distractions and ill-feelings among members-elect of the 10th National Assembly so that he could concentrate on the onerous task of providing good governance.

“The President is currently tackling the issue of dwindling revenue, poor infrastructure and epileptic power supply among others and he needed to concentrate on putting his team together.

“As we are all aware, the National Assembly is very critical. Since the APC has the highest number of members in both chambers, it was the president’s opinion that the leadership must not be imposed,” the source added.

Further investigations by our correspondent revealed that both Lawan and Gbajabiamila had asked all aspirants to put their houses in order to avoid rancour on the day of inauguration.

Towards this development, the camp of Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin met at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday night for several hours.

Similarly, the Senate Democratic Caucus which has the likes of Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Osita Izunaso and others, also met at Destination Hotel in Wuse 2, Abuja.

A source at the Akpabio/Barau’s Stability Group meeting explained that most of the senators-elect who were invited failed to turn up for the crucial meeting.

The source said, “Invitations were sent out to the senators-elect by the Stability Group for the meeting, which was organised by a prominent Senator from the South West but many of those invited did not turn up.

“It got to a point that some elders of the party like Chief Segun Osoba, and Abu Ibrahim, were invited to the closed-door meeting, which had about 21 senators-Elect in attendance”

Meanwhile, another meeting called by the Democratic Caucus group at the Wuse Zone two, was holding simultaneously.

A senator elect from the North East who confirmed the development on conditions of anonymity, said the turnout of lawmakers-elect at the venue was highly impressive.

He said, “The meeting convened by the Senate Democratic Caucus, had in attendance 57 senators-elect while about 16 others sent in their regrets.

“We are going to take the final decision on the whole matter on Tuesday this week and Nigerians would know that the current zoning arrangements done by the APC had collapsed, ” he added.

It will be recalled that Tinubu and the National Working Committee of the APC had zoned the position of the Senate President to the South South and specifically endorsed Akpabio as its candidate with Senator Barau Jibrin as deputy.

Kalu, Yari, Izunaso and others had objected to the action of the APC’s leadership and vowed to contest against the Akpabio/Jibrin ticket on Inauguration Day.

Meanwhile there are subtle moves by the President and the leadership of the APC to correct the anomalies the zoning arrangements as announced by the APC had caused. Our source both from the Presidential Villa and APC National Working Committee said that serious concern have been raised as to the matter especially the exclusion of North Central zone in the zoning arrangements made for the both chambers of the National Assembly by the APC with a view to ensuring inclusivity, which can alter the current permutations.