Governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have called an emergency meeting to seek ways of reuniting the ruling party threatened by a major crisis over the choice of new leaders for the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The meeting was at the instance of the chairman of the APC governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha.
A strong party source said that the meeting which started at about 5.15pm Monday afternoon at the Imo state governors lodge in Asokoro Abuja, would discuss how to find a solution to the crisis generated by the election of a new Senate President and Speaker.
The APC had conducted a mock election to elect candidate for the two offices on Saturday, during which Ahmed Lawan from Yobe and Femi Gbajabiamila were elected as Senate President and Speaker of the House respectively.
However, the two main challengers to the posts, Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, who are also members of the party, boycotted the election and rejected its outcome and have vowed to defy the party and seek for the mandate of their colleagues in an election billed for Tuesday.
The APC national secretary, Mai Mala Buni had on Sunday issued a statement urging both Saraki and Dogara to abide by the decision of the party, the plea which the two contenders have rejected and vowed to challenge the party’s candidates on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, another party source has revealed that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has waded into the National Assembly leadership crisis after several failed attempts by the party leadership to persuade Saraki and Dogara to drop their ambitions.
One of the lawmakers loyal to Dogara confirmed that the Vice President had invited all members to a meeting, even as he said they would boycott it.
“We received text messages from the party informing us of a meeting with the Vice President today; however, we see no difference between the Vice President and those trying to impose leaders on the House of Representatives, so we would not be attending,” he told Premium Times.
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