The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, have yet again defied their party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, rejecting the APC’s nominees for top leadership positions in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Messrs Saraki and Dogara defeated candidates nominated by the APC for the positions of Senate president and House Speaker respectively.
Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila were the APC’s official candidates for the positions of Senate President and House Speaker.
On Tuesday, the party wrote the two leaders directing them to adopt candidates who lost at the elections as principal officers.
In its letter, the party picked Mr. Lawan as Senate Leader; Sola Adeyeye as Chief Whip; George Akume as Deputy Senate Leader; and Abu Ibrahim as Deputy Whip.
For the House Representatives,Mr. Gbajabiamila is the party’s choice to emerge House Leader, while Mohammed Monguno would serve as Chief Whip; Alhassan Doguro Deputy Speaker; and Pally Iriase as Deputy Whip.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari and governors of his All Progressives Congress have said the National Assembly leaders should appoint members nominated by the party as principal officers.
They took the decision at a meeting Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha, who is the chairman of the APC Governors Forum, announced the decision at a briefing with State House reporters after the meeting.
The governor said the meeting decided that the party’s views on the issue should be respected.
He said the meeting also agreed that there should be no winner-takes-all approach and that everyone should be carried along as suggested by the party.
He said: “We are the APC governors. We met with Mr President. We are worried by what is happening at the National Assembly.
“We felt we should rub minds with Mr President and also to commend him on the steps he has taken so far to address the issue of the economy of the nation which is literally in shambles.
“The meeting we had with Mr President is more reassuring, showing that there is light at the dark end of the tunnel.
“But with all these achievements we are making … we’re worried by the pockets of disagreements going on at the National Assembly and we’ve resolved that we came from a party and our party’s views should be respected.
“And so, we feel that there is room for us to invite our senators and look more into the matter and see how we can all make peace.
“We believe our party, which we all came from, that everyone should respect our party and for that reason, we have decided that we are going to invite our senators and rub minds with them.”
Also speaking, Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole said the party has the responsibility to resolve the crisis, adding that in as much as APC governors respect party’s decisions, the senators must do same.
“Basically, what we are saying is that the senators should adopt the position of the party. We were all elected on the platform of the party, we are not just a collection of individuals, we are a political party and when the party has spoken, we must listen, otherwise if it was a game of individuals like golf, then individuals can go their way.
“I think it is very clear at this point that the party has the responsibility to keep the system going. So, we as progressive governors, have listened to the president and we have discussed extensively. And we are clear that the party’s position should be supported by the senators.
“This is the way it should be and we should start on a note of working closely. We as governors, listen to the party and we expect our senators to also listen to the party. We are going to call them and tell them this is it and explain our reasons, we can’t continue to allow individuals to…it is about party’s supremacy”, Oshiomhole said.
