According to Punch, the sharing of principal offices in the Senate seems to be creating a fresh crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The principal offices are the Senate Leader; the Deputy Senate Leader; the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip.
While the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, is believed to have recommended to the APC National Working Committee that the positions be allocated to the zones, some leaders of the party, especially those from the South-West, want them filled by the party’s hierarchy.
A senator made this known to one of the Punch correspondents in Abuja on Thursday just as the APC NWC meeting on Thursday failed to agree on the modalities for brokering peace among aggrieved members of the party.
Punch reports that the senator warned that if the issue was not quickly resolved, the Senate and the APC might “face another round of crisis bigger than that that resulted from Saraki’s emergence as Senate president.”
He added, “The Senate President, had after wide consultations, suggested how the officers to occupy these posts could be appointed. He suggested the allocation of the four principal offices to some of the geopolitical zones.
“But some leaders, who are still angry with his (Saraki) emergence, turned down his suggestion. Some of the influential leaders from the South-West are insisting that the party should fill the offices. This is in spite of the fact that the chairman of our party (John Odigie-Oyegun) and other members of the NWC are in support of allocating the principal offices to zones.
“The South-West leaders are even saying that allowing the party leadership to fill the offices, remained the only way to allow peace to reign in the Senate.” (Punch).