Opposition APC dramatically became the majority party in the House of Representatives in a historic declaration of switch of party affiliation by 37 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to APC at the Wednesday plenary.
The mass movement to APC by the lawmakers, who were part of the factional PDP, which was formed at the peak of crisis of confidence rocking the party, swung the pendulum of majority strength to the side of APC.
With the new configuration, the APC leads the House with 175 members ahead of PDP’s 171.
The remaining seats are shared by Labour Party (LP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord Party (AP).
Eleven of the defectors are lawmakers from Kano State, 10 are from Sokoto State, eight from Rivers State, six from Kwara State. One member apiece from Katsina and Bauchi also moved to APC.
However, since the defection was announced, both the camps of PDP and that of APC have lost sleep as series of meetings have been held with a view to solving the problems that are springing up as a result of the new permutations in the parliament.
Checks by Sunday Independent revealed that while the APC camp has been busy sorting out the challenges of what to do with the principal officers of the House, PDP is concerned with how it will reclaim the seats from the defectors.
As at 4.pm on Saturday, leaders of PDP, sources said, were still locked in a meeting in the Presidential Villa, with a view to coming out with best solution plans to the defection of its members to the opposition APC.
The meeting, sources said, was called to brainstorm on what to do, should Tambuwal fail to declare the seats of defectors vacant against the order given to him by the party on Thursday.
The Speaker, it was learnt, has shown his reluctance to toe the line of the party on the immediate declaration of the seat as vacant, hinging his reluctance on the court pronouncement on the defection made by an Abuja High Court on Wednesday.
Twenty Senators and some members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday secured a court order, which asked PDP and the lawmakers to maintain the status quo.
While the defecting lawmakers see the order as affirming their rights to stay in office while the case against their defection continues, PDP interpreted the order to mean that the defectors either return to their old party, or lose their seats.
Tambuwal, sources said, told some of his confidants that the request made on him by the party leaders was difficult for him to carry out because of the controversy over the real meaning of the order, insisting that the order needed be explained clearly by a court for him not to run foul of the law.
Another source within APC in the House of Representatives told Sunday Independent that the party has concluded how it wants the structure of the leadership of the House of Representatives to look like.
According to the source, Tambuwal and his Deputy, Emeka Ihedioha, are to keep their jobs as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, while other principal officers, like the Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Whip and Deputy Whip, are to lose their positions to nominees of APC.
Presently, occupiers of the offices are Majority Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola; Deputy Leader, Leo Ogor; Chief Whip, Ishaka Bawa; and Deputy Whip, Ahmed Muktar Muhammed.
The source said their offices are to be filled by the current occupier of duplication on the minority side.
Currently, principal officers on the minority side are Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; Deputy Minority Leader, Sumaila Kawu; Minority Whip, Samson Osagie, and Deputy Whip, Garba Datti.
The PDP principal officers, who are set to lose their seats, sources said, will be given the right of first refusal to the minority seats by the party leaders, in event the plans to reclaim the seats from the defectors fall through.
A competent source disclosed to Sunday Independent that the decision to allow Ihedioha retain his seat was not an easy one to reach as majority of APC members in the House wanted him swept out and replaced with an APC member.
However, Tambuwal was said to have intervened to save the situation, asking that he be allowed to continue his job with his deputy, whom he said he can trust all the time.
“The Speaker was not well disposed to the idea of having the Deputy Speaker removed from office, as he bluntly insist he’s not ready to part way with his deputy for as long as he remains the Speaker of the House”, the source said.
However, the expected changes in the House cannot manifest until APC formally notifies the Office of the Speaker of the change in its membership and new status as the majority party in the lower chamber, requesting that it be allowed to nominate officers into the offices of principal officers of the parliament in accordance with the rule.
Even at that, the request is not to be granted automatically as the claim of being the majority party must be confirmed by the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly, as well as that of the Clerk to House of Representatives.
The defectors, who assisted in changing the status of PDP into the minority on Wednesday are Abdulahi Balarabe (Sokoto), Abudulmumin Jibrin (Kano), Ali Ahmad (PDP, Kwara), Abudulahi Wamako (Sokoto), Aliyu Pategi (Kwara), Ahmed Zerewa, Aishatu Ahmed (Adamawa), Aiyedun Olayinka (Kwara), Alhassan Garba (Kano), Aliyu Madaki (Kano), Aliyu Shehu (Sokoto) and Aminu Shagari (Sokoto).
Others include Aminu Suleiman (Kano), Aminu Tukur (Adamawa), Andrew Uchendu (Rivers), Asita Honourable (Rivers), Bashir Babale (Kano), Blessing Usiegbe (Rivers), Dakuku Peterside (Rivers), Dawari George (Rivers), Gibson Nathaniel (Adamawa), Gogo Bright Tamuno (Rivers), Isa Bashir (Sokoto), Kabiru Achida (Sokoto), and Maurice Pronen (Rivers).
Also in the group, are Sabo Mohammed, Mpigi Barinada (Rivers), Mukhtari Muhammad, Musa Ado (Kano), Musa Sarkin-Adar (Sokoto), Mustapha Dawaki (Kano), Mustapha Mashood (Kwara), Ogbonna Nwuke (Rivers), Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara), Sa’ad Nabunkari (Sokoto), Sani Aliyu (Kano), Shuaibu Gobir (Sokoto), Sokonte Davies (Rivers), Umar Bature (Sokoto), Yusuph Dunari Sule (Jigawa), and Zakari Mohammed (Kwara).
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