Speaker Yakubu Dogara vs. Rep Abdulmumini Jibrin:

It all started on July 20 when the Speaker of the House of Reps Yakubu Dogara announced the removal of House Appropriation Committee Chairman Abdulmumin Jibrin over N40bn insertions in the 2016 ‘Budget Padding’ scandal. The crisis hampered the passage of the 2016 budget as it was returned by the Executive and had to be redone before President Muhammadu Buhari eventually assented to it after a meeting of presidency with principal officers of both chambers and the setting up of a 15-member harmonization committee to sort out grey areas.

Though Jibrin initially said he voluntarily resigned his chairmanship position, it was later known that he was sacked from his seat and replaced, by Speaker Dogara on the floor of the house, by Dawaki Mustapha Bala, a fellow lawmaker from Kano State.

Jibrin said his refusal to support immunity for presiding officers and his refusal to approve the N40 billion for principal officers out of N100 billion approved for members of the House for constituency projects led to his removal. While he made the allegation as the House was on recess, the lawmakers upon resumption referred the allegation to the Ethics and Privileges committee.

The crisis snowballed into the suspension of Jibrin by the House in September for a period of 180 legislative sitting days and also barred him from holding positions of responsibility till the end of the 8th Assembly. He thereafter went on self-imposed exile in London over alleged threat to his life and only recently returned to Nigeria saying he returned to assist anti-corruption agencies in their investigations of the 2016 budget ‘padding’ scandal in the House.

Parallel PDP national conventions in Port Harcourt and Abuja:

The 2008 prediction of Prince Vincent Ogbulafor as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the party would rule the country for 60 straight years may not have been unconnected with the crisis and political dramas bedeviling the party even before it lost the 2015 General Elections.

The factionalization of the party into the two camps of former governors Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi and Ali Modu Sheriff had led to the sealing of the Wadata Plaza National Secretariat of the former acclaimed largest party in Africa.

The May 21 simultaneous national conventions in Abuja and Port Harcourt, Rivers States of the main opposition party may go down in the nation’s political history as the most dramatic.

Sheriff who was initially appointed the acting National Chairman of the party and who ought to lead the Port Harcourt Convention appeared to be cajoled, as he was made to announce the cancellation of the delegate Convention.

The announcement was also at the instance of the court case which barred the opposition from electing the National Chairman and Scribe of the party.

However, in a dramatic twist, the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, minutes after Sheriff’s declaration, and his exit from the Sharks Stadium venue of the meeting, announced the formal commencement of the factional National Convention.

In the end and in what appeared a coup against Sheriff, Makarfi was declared the interim PDP National Chairman and asked to serve for three months in that capacity.

While the Port Harcourt drama was playing out, the factional non-elective delegate national convention led by Jerry Gana also held a parallel national convention.

Amid the goodwill messages by the party leaders who described Abuja Convention as the faction of real PDP leaders; “the Restorers and Reformers”, former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu and Professor Tunde Adeniran were announced the interim National Chairman and Deputy of the party. The Abuja factional convention has since been unofficially abandoned leaving the stage for Sheriff and Makarfi to continuously battle for the soul of the PDP.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai vs Senator Shehu Sani:

The protracted political acrimony between Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai and Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) is fraught with dramatic twists. Sani, in an August 2015 interview explained that the governor was sidelining him and working with the former senator he defeated including rejecting his nominees for appointments and instead appointed the nominations of his rival.

Despite concerted efforts to reconcile the former friends, their rivalry degenerated into public embarrassment leading to Sani’s suspension twice by the APC in Kaduna State. Some officials of the All Progressives Congress, APC, accused an aide to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of offering a N3 million bribe for them to suspend a senator.

There was also the allegation by the APC executives of Ward 6, Kaduna South Local Government who accused Uba Sani, Governor el-Rufai’s political adviser, of offering N3m bribes to some of their fellow executive members to suspend Senator Sani.

In one of the few responses to Senator Sani’s many outbursts, Uba Sani warned the Senator to stop his political tantrums and grow up. The drama is ongoing.

Edo and Ondo states election tribunals:

The Edo and Ondo states governorship elections in September 28 and November 26, respectively, were won by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) despite some internal wrangling but which was partly resolved by the intervention of the embattled Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal.

The PDP was however worse hit as it presented two candidates each in the states with Matthew Idriowenyekwene for Sheriff and Pastor OsagieIze-Iyamu for Makarfi camps in Edo, and Eyitayo Jegede for the Makarfi and Jimoh Ibrahim for Sheriff’s in Ondo.

While the APC only retained its victory in Edo, it defeated the ruling PDP in Ondo to emerge victorious. Although INEC eventually recognised candidates from Makarfi camp for both elections after controversial court cases, the candidates of the APC Godwin Obaseki in Edo and Rotimi Akeredolu in Ondo won. The ongoing drama in the two states will open a new chapter in the nation’s political landscape.

PDP Senators plenary walk-out after colleague’s defection to APC:

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate in the last days of November walked out on its counterparts in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) dominated Senate over the defection of Senator Yele Omogunwa (PDP, Ondo South) to the APC.

Omogunwa who had announced his defection to the APC on the eve of the Ondo State governorship election, was the only PDP senator from the state before his defection.

The Caucus said Omogunwa has no cogent reason to ditch the PDP on which platform he was elected as Senator since there was no division in the party, hence his seat ought to be declared vacant by the Senate leadership.

Saraki who during the plenary announced the defection of Omogunwa read the Senator’s letter where he cited division in the PDP as ground for his cross-carpeting.

But the Senate Minority leader and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State Godswill Akpabio challenged it, saying that as lawmakers, they must not encourage political rascality, as there was no division in the party as claimed by Omogunwa. He therefore asked the Senate President to declare Omogunwa’s seat vacant but Saraki declined, and ruled him out of order.

Consequently, the minority leader led his fellow PDP senators to a walk-out after which, OvieOmo-Agege, Labour Party Senator from Delta state, was asked to assume the role of minority vacated by the PDP, and proceedings continued.