Plot to remove Jonathan thickens

• Details of opposition's game plan

DICKSON OMONODE

As members of the National Assembly embark on their Christmas break, there are indications that for them and their retinue of aides, this is going to be the busiest break ever since the return to democratic rule 14 years ago. 

With their seeming victory over the week occasioned by the defection of 37 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC), they appear to be moving to the next level as plans thicken over the weekend to wet the ground for the big kill, which is the possible removal of President Goodluck Jonathan from office.

A source who is in the know of deliberations between the top leadership of the APC and some top politicians comprising of former presidents, governors, ministers and leadership of some notable socio-cultural organizations sympathetic to the APC, informed National Daily that removing Jonathan from office to prevent him from running in 2015 is the main priority of this emerging coalition. 

The source further said that the inability of the president through the leadership of the PDP to get the Speaker of the House of Representatives to recall the members of the House that defected to the APC to the PDP is a bad omen for the president. 

According to him, there are still some more that are bidding their time to make the move but waited to see what will happen to those who defected. With the present development, not only will APC get more than the seven members it needs to make the 181, thus taking full control of the House, many senators are reportedly warming up to follow suit.

To perfect the strategies, series of meetings took place over the weekend in Abuja, Lagos, and Ota, all aimed at working out a killer strategy to take over both the legislative arms or government and the executive arm as well. Indications emerged that the likely immediate changes that Nigerians will see in the New Year as soon as the Christmas break is over, is the removal of the Senate President, the Deputy Senate President along with the Senate Leader, Deputy Speaker, and the Majority Leader. 

This will also affect the House and Senate Committee Chairmen as the reconstituted legislature will draw the first blood with the 2014 Budget where they will test their strength.

 

This development has led to a high level of horse trading which will continue throughout the break as the Senate President is said to have made a handsome offer of an undisclosed sum to the Senators to delay their defection while the PDP tries to sort out the problem. He is said to be worried about the impending move by some senators to defect to the opposition APC. 

The APC, a source said,  has set up different teams at the state and at the national levels to lobby Senators and some of the members of the House of Representatives who are yet to defect to hasten their decision to enable the Party strengthen its base with the objective to ensure a strong footing for the party and quicken the possibility of its winning the presidency in 2015, the party also has the objective of securing a majority in the National Assembly ahead of the next general elections.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is said to be the arrow head of the plan to hijack the National Assembly as he is likely to be the only officer of the NASS who will retain his position as soon as the APC would have engineered the defection of no fewer than 100 members of the House to its camp.

National Daily exclusively gathered that once the House resumes in January, Tambuwal is expected to resign his position as Speaker and immediately announce his subsequent defection to APC. He will, during the same sitting be re-elected on the platform of the APC to fill the vacant position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Party (APC) is lobbying hard to counter the PDP which has already dangled a return ticket to any of its senators who refuses APCs offer. APC, however, is said to have raised the bar by offering return tickets to any of its legislators and anyone who have indicated intention to contest gubernatorial seats is also being promised the ticket. Sources say that the APC seem to be getting the interest of the legislators as are perceived as more serious than their PDP counterparts.

A top APC chieftain who spoke to National Daily on phone confirmed that his party is leaving no stone unturned in this effort to change the leadership of this country if necessary before 2015. He said that their target is to woo 100 members of the House, and 40 Senators.

After this, the APC would, according to him; start making the changes enumerated above starting with the position of the Deputy Senate President which a source claim Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the arrow-head of APC political machinery on the Southwest, Bola Tinubu former Lagos Governor, has been positioned for.

The PDP is said to be jittery by the developments and is planning how best to restrain its aggrieved members from ditching the party for the opposition. It could be recalled that the Party failed to get the defectors to vacate their seats due to the ruling from a Federal High Court Abuja presided over by Justice A. R. Mohammed who in his ruling Motion on Notice said, “Upon the case coming up for hearing of the Plaintiffs Motion on Notice, dated and filed on the 28th day of November, 2013 for order of interlocutory injunction.

“After hearing Tairu Adebayo Esq with A. A. Muhammed Esq, of counsel for the Plaintiffs; henry Micheal-Ihunde Esq with C.P. Nzedebe Esq of counsel for the 1st (Bamanga Tukur) and 4th (PDP) Defendants/Applicants moved in terms of the motion paper; 2nd (Senate President) and 3rd (Speaker, House of Rpresentatives) Defendants have been fully served but absent and not represented in Court by counsel; Abdulaziz Sani Esq with Rahimatu Aminu (Mrs.) Esq and Ibrahim S. Mohammed of counsel for the 5th Defendant/Applicant (INEC).

“It is hereby ordered as follows: The 2nd and 3rd Defendants should be asked to maintain status quo on any proposed deliberation to declare the seats of the affected and interested Plaintiffs vacant, at least, pending the hearing and determination of the Plaintiffs motion for interlocutory injunction.”

The Judge directed the parties and in particular the 2nd and 3rd Defendants to maintain status quo on any proposed deliberation to declare the seats of the affected/interested Plaintiffs in the suit vacant pending the hearing and determination of the motion. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had applied to a Federal High Court in Abuja for an order declaring the seats of the five governors who defected from the ruling party to the All Progressive Congress (APC) vacant.

With this development the PDP has for the first time since the return to democratic rule 14 years ago become a minority party in the House of Representative. Subsequently, the APC leads the House with 175 members ahead of PDP’s 171. The remaining seats are shared by Labour Party, Democratic People’s Party, All Progressive Grand Alliance and Accord Party. It is the first time the PDP, in its 14 years of existence, would lose the majority number in any arm of the National Assembly. 

Members of the PDP say the APC could only take charge of the House if its members hit 181, basing their argument on the rule that requires a simple majority to take over leadership. They argue that for a 360-member house, such majority will be above the half mark-180.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) still insists that the decision of the 37 lawmakers to announce their defection on the floor of the House was in violation of the court's order directing the parties to maintain the status quo. They call the court ruling on this issue a false ruling. 

In a letter to the Speaker, they noted that : “We have today filed a motion on notice, which has already been served on your office seeking to overturn the purported movement of 37 of the plaintiffs to the APC.“It is in the light of this that we enjoin you to act in obedience to the order of court and direct the plaintiffs to revert to the status quo ante bellum.

“Anything contrary to this will send out the wrong signals to Nigerians and the world that the federal legislatures have no regard for the law and the constitution which they have sworn to uphold.“The action of the plaintiffs, if not contained, may lead to a state of anarchy, which is not good for our democracy, constitutionalism, rule of law and the polity.”

They quoted Section 68 (1)(g) and (h) of the constitution, which gives the conditions under which a member of the House of Representatives who defects to another party might be allowed to retain his seat.PDP and Tukur argued that the conditions were not met.

“It is crystal clear from the above legal authorities that the mandatory criteria have not been complied with by the plaintiffs,” they added. They have also filed an application before the court seeking the following reliefs:

•      An order of this court declaring the defection on December 18, 2013, by 37 of the plaintiffs from the PDP to ACP as null and void and contrary to the order of this court made on Tuesday, the 17th day of December, 2013.

•      A mandatory order of this court that the 37 legislators revert to status quo pending the hearing of the plaintiffs' motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

•      In the alternative to prayer 2 above, an order setting aside the earlier order of this court on parties to maintain the status quo pending the hearing of the motion for interlocutory injunction.

The plaintiffs had approached the Federal High Court via an originating summons, for among others restraining the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President from declaring their seats vacant, in the event of their defection to another political party.

The case will come up on January 22, 2014.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, PDP said: “We have, after a careful review, discovered that this claim is false. For the avoidance of doubt, the order of the court clearly says that status quo be maintained which means the affected members shall remain members of the PDP.”

The opposition is not relenting as they held a landmark close door meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Ogun state while they also met with some Southeast leaders in Lagos, at the weekend. Details of these meetings were yet to be public as at the time of going to press.

The Presidency is said to be keeping its own plans close to its chest as it has become clear that the entire process is aimed at impeaching the president from office, a plot some have warned will have dire consequences.

However, President Jonathan is said to be reaching across the aisle to aggrieved party members and willing to cut deals to keep the party in control of the entire National Assembly or at least the Senate. According to sources close to the Aso Rock seat of power, in the last five days, Mr President has had more than 10 meetings with his party's National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, a development which emphasizes the seriousness of the effect of the emerging political calculations in the country.

Presidency sources told this newspaper that the conditions being given to the party by the defecting lawmakers and governors will end up boxing the president into a tight corner where he either declares that he is no longer going to run for the office of president in 2015 or he will be completely incapacitated following zero cooperation from the National Assembly, starting with the 2014 budget. 

Should he go ahead to undermine the legislature, impeachment proceedings will be commenced against him.

Our source further disclosed that once President Jonathan is impeached, Namadi Sambo will be sworn in while Governor Rotimi Amaechi may be picked as Vice President. Once this is achieved, the lawmakers and governors could return to the PDP to take control again since their grand plan which is to ensure return of power to the north would have been achieved.

"We are in a very difficult corner and only the President and him alone, can use the enormous power and resources of his office to cut the needed deals to save the situation," a PDP chieftain who did not want to be mentioned lamented, adding, "but you should not underestimate the office of the president. He knows what to do, he is president.

For his part, Jonathan is said to be ready to take his case to the courts of public opinion where he would try to appeal to Nigerians by coming out to let them know some seeming backend efforts he has made and why they should rally behind him to continue to work to complete what he started which he believes will move the country in the right direction. According to the plan, he will seek itemize policy summersault and uncompleted or abandoned projects as a result of lack of continuity.

It however remains to be seen how President Jonathan and indeed his PDP will survive these trying times.