The contest for leadership positions in the yet to be inaugurated 8th National Assembly has become enmeshed in the jostling for ascendancy by prospective aspirants in the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2019 presidential ticket of the party.

With word on the prospects of President Muhammadu Buhari seeking re-election yet unclear, a number of potential 2019 presidential hopefuls have nevertheless, commenced quiet political manoeuvres to properly position themselves should the former general decide not to seek a second term.

In the same vein, the presidential hopefuls are also said to be silently aiming for the political jugular of their potential rivals doing everything to frustrate their present political pursuits.

Meanwhile, one of the leading aspirants in the contest for speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara is expected to seal a deal with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, caucus in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

The quest for positioning in 2019, it was learnt, is now influencing the consideration of senators-elect and major stakeholders in the APC in their support for the two major contenders for the office of Senate President, Senators Ahmad Lawan of Yobe State and Bukola Saraki.

Kwankwanso and the Kano senators were alleged to be pushing the aspiration of Senator Lawan in the Northwest to the discomfort of Senator Saraki and his supporters.

Informed sources disclosed that Kwankwanso’s opposition might not be unconnected to the fact that Saraki and Kwankwanso were among the two frontline potential aspirants being canvassed for the 2019 presidential contest.
Besides the duo, others allegedly being mentioned were Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, both of whom were first-term governors.

Sources close to the leadership contest alleged that canvassers of the 2019 presidential contest were working to ensure that opportunities that would “promote the position of anyone of their rivals are damaged.”

In their drive to overcome the challenge posed by Kwankwanso, Saraki’s supporters at a meeting in Sokoto State, last Thursday, were said to have delegated Senator Sani Yerima to convince Kwankwanso on his opposition to Saraki.

Yerima, it was gathered, was also despatched to win over Senator Garba Marafa, one of the kingpins of the Lawan campaign based in the Northwest.

The Saraki camp, it was learnt, believed that Kwankwanso remained the only major stumbling block to their aspiration of getting the presidency of the Senate.

Meanwhile, the contest for speaker of the House of Representatives could take a decisive edge today when Dogara one of the two leading aspirants for the office “seals a deal with the PDP caucus.”

The deal, Vanguard, learnt, was to be struck on the sidelines of today’s retreat of PDP senators-elect and members-elect taking place in Port-Harcourt.

Sources in the Dogara camp said that at least 126 of 139 members-elect in the PDP caucus had signed on to the deal that they claim could push their candidate to an unassailable lead upon the support he had also obtained from APC members-elect.

Dogara’s major rival for the office of speaker is Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos State, being backed by strong forces within the APC.