A crisis is looming in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the choice of principal officers of the party in the Senate.
Nigerian Tribune learnt on Thursday that the fresh crisis had already pitched some influential leaders of the party against one another.
According to the investigations, some leaders of the party and some governors were said to be against the choice of Senator George Sekibo as minority leader, as the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State and now senator, Godswill Akpabio, was also alleged to be eyeing same position.
It was further gathered that Akpabio’s ambition was being threatened by the Senate rules on ranking.
Investigation revealed that the chance of Senator James Manager, who had hitherto been touted as the Senate minority leader, was being threatened due to lack of logistics to back up his ambition, ahead the final decision which would be announced when the Senate resumes plenary on July 21.
A senator from the South-South zone confided with newsmen in Abuja, on Thursday, that the brewing crisis was “capable of weakening the PDP ahead of its role as a viable opposition party in the years ahead.”
According to him, “we are seeing the APC crisis now, ours is also in the making because, before July 21, if we don’t sort ourselves out too, we can at best say that what is capable of weakening the PDP ahead of its role as a viable opposition party in the years ahead may have been planted.
“We all thought the issue of Senate minority leader has been laid to rest until the Deputy Senate President called us for a meeting in his house, where he sought opinion on the propriety or otherwise of selecting Senator John Owan Eno for the position.
“I think it was from there that the former Akwa Ibom governor got the feeling that if the matter has to be revisited, he would take a shot at it, but he doesn’t know that his ambition is against the rules of the Senate, as regards the selection of its principal officers.
“Although Akpabio has argued that both Manager and the House minority leader-designate, Honourable Leo Ogor, being from Delta State, cannot hold the two positions simultaneously, we have also told him that since the PDP is in unusual circumstances, we can allow that to fly.”
It will be recalled that the opposition PDP, on Tuesday, zoned minority positions in both chambers of the National Assembly.
The party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, who disclosed that at the end of its meeting, said the National Working Committee (NWC) zoned the Senate minority leader to South-South, while the North Central would produce minority whip.
Deputy minority leader and deputy minority whip went to North East and South West respectively, while in the House of Representatives, PDP said it accepted the choice of members who had already chosen Honourable Ogor from South-South as minority leader.
Metuh however, said the North-West would produce the minority whip, while the South-East and North-East would produce deputy minority leader and deputy minority whip respectively.
-Tribune
