Gbajabiamila, El-Rufai tipped for Chief of Staff, SGF

As the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) meets with the National Assembly lawmakerselect today, the president- elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is said to be pushing for a government of national unity, for reconciliation in the country.

This is just as Tinubu is said to have tipped Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila as his chief of staff (CoS) while Governor Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai of Kaduna is said to be pencilled down for the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Although Tinubu is said to be considering between Gbajabiamila and former Lagos governor and Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, the choice of the Speaker is said to be preferred by most of Tinubu’s loyalists. For the position of SGF, both el-Rufai and his Kano State counterpart Ganduje are strongly being considered. A member of the APC National Working Committee (NWC), who confided in our correspondent in Abuja, said in the event that Ganduje is made the SGF, el-Rufai may return to the FCT as minister.

“Both Gbajabiamila and Fashola are being considered for CoS, but Fashola may likely be given another responsibility for the Speaker to serve as CoS. In the case of el- Rufai and Ganduje, the Kaduna State governor seems to hold the ace but, in the event he is not appointed SGF, he may return to the FCT as minister,” he disclosed. According to him, Tinubu is planning a government of national unity to give every nationality a sense of belonging in his administration. His words: “We are so divided and Tinubu as an experienced and astute politician is aware and he wants to bring people from all the ethnic nationalities on board. It is part of the arrangement why he is in support of zoning the Senate presidency to the South East to placate the zone which is aggrieved for losing the presidency. “The president-elect wants to unite the country taking from the sharp sectional and deep religious divisions of today. Asiwaju is experienced; he had done a similar thing as Lagos State governor by embracing Nigerians from all parts of the country. He is the true unifier and great mobiliser and will not disappoint.

“At the meeting we are having tomorrow at the Villa, I can assure you; you will see the beginning of the healing process because the party with president-elect as leader is serious about correcting anomalies of the past.” He noted that the party is going to resurrect the PDP’s zoning formula of 1999 to 2007: “The position of Speaker is reserved for the North West. The deputy Senate president will be from the North Central while the deputy Speaker will be from the South South. And, of course, the current party chairman will have to give way for a Christian from the North Central, in order to give our composition a balanced religious outlook.”

Continuing, our source said: “For balance of power, our president-elect understands that to have a rancour-free administration, every region must be carried along and the South East is very paramount to him. “He has confined in us his commitment to support the emergence of a Senate president from the South East for the sake of equity, fairness and justice, thus maintaining the balance of power and a sense of inclusion. “In 2015, the South East was told to blame themselves for not voting for APC which could have given them the Senate presidency. In 2019, they said the South East has no ranking senator, but in 2023 there’s no excuse because the South East despite the massive votes they gave to the Labour Party still voted for six APC senators, some of whom are ranking lawmakers. T he added: “Although Senator Osita Izunaso from Imo is ranking and is also interested, the choice of the Chief Whip and returning Senator Orji Uzor Kalu seems to be uppermost in the minds of the party’s hierarchy because is a close ally of Tinubu.” The source said at the end of the party’s meeting today at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, these issues will be ironed out.