List of N-Assembly’s principal officers emerged from govs, not NWC- APC chieftain

BENIN—There are strong indications that the list of Principal Officers of the National Assembly that was said to have been compiled by the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was after all the product of the governors of the party from each of the six geo-political zones of the country, where the seats were allocated. A source close to the National Chairman of the APC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Vanguard in Benin, Edo State, that the mission of the eight governors, who visited Chief John Odigie-Oyegun a few days before the uproar that greeted the publication of the names of the Principal Officers was to deliver a prepared list to him. The governors who, according to the source, were led by Mr Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Chief Oyegun’s state governor, had assured him that the list of the principal officers as prepared by them was a reflection of the general choice of the party. Oyegun was said to have suggested that it would have been better to leave out the names of the officers to allow the caucuses from each zone to nominate those that would fill the offices in tandem with what Saraki/Dogara had proposed as a move to solve the problem within the party. It was further revealed that it was the vision of the state governors to cede the position of Chief Whip of the Senate to the North-West against Oyegun’s earlier stand that it should go to the South-South, so as to win more support for the party in subsequent elections. This was said to have been turned down by the governors, the source said, adding that Oyegun’s position was embraced by the Senate leadership which saw the emergence of Senator Francis Aliminkhena from Edo North as the Deputy Chief Whip. The position taken by the National Chairman, the source said, was to reassure all interests within the party as he had since purged himself of personal interests in order to stabilise the party.