the All Progressives Congress has said that
whatever disciplinary action it will take against
the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the Speaker,
House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and
its members for defying its directive on the
election of the National Assembly leadership will
follow due process.
It said this just as The PUNCH learnt that the
Presidency had intervened in the crisis the
election of Saraki and Dogara on Tuesday had
generated.
The party had conducted mock elections in which
Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila emerged
as its consensus candidates for the Senate
Presidency and House speakership.
After the mock polls, the APC directed its other
lawmakers not to contest the positions but
ensure that Lawan and Gbajabiamila became the
National Assembly leaders.
But this was not to be as Saraki and Dogara did
not only contest but won with the support of
opposition Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers.
In the Senate, an opposition member, Ike
Ekweremadu, surprisingly retained his post as
Deputy Senate President.
Ekweremadu defeated an APC Senator, Ali
Ndume, who also defied the party’s directive by
contesting. The APC anointed candidate for the
post is Mohammed Mungono.
The APC spokesman, Lai Mohammed, who spoke
with journalists after an emergency National
Working Committee meeting of the APC in Abuja,
insisted that the party had not made a U-turn on
its earlier position that the errant lawmakers
would be sanctioned.
The APC spokesman had in a statement on
Tuesday said, that the election of Saraki and
Dogara was unacceptable.
He had said, ‘‘The APC leadership is meeting in a
bid to reestablish discipline in the party and to
mete out the necessary sanctions to all those
involved in what is nothing but a monumental
act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the
party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new
administration.’’
When asked on Thursday if the party would still
go ahead with plans to punish Saraki,Dogara and
others, he replied, that the “sanctions would
follow due process.”
He added that the errant lawmakers would be
notified about their alleged offences and given an
opportunity to respond.
When asked why the members of the SUF were
at the NWC meeting, he said, “They are our
senators that wanted to confer with the party
leadership; they came to confer on the crisis in
the National Assembly.”
On the threat by the SUF to contest Saraki’s
election in court, the APC spokesman said, “I
think the party made its expression clear on the
matter, that it is unhappy with the outcome of
the election and I think we won’t say anything
beyond that.
“What the senators will do is within their
capability and rights.”
It was also gathered that Saraki, who was due
to pay a courtesy visit on the party leadership
had a rethink on learning that the SUF members
were meeting with the NWC.
However, Mohammed said he was unaware of
the planned visit by Saraki.
“I’m not aware, probably if you wait you will see
him,” he told the journalists, who also informed
him that an advance team of security details
from the Senate President’s office were sighted
earlier in the day at the party’s secretariat.
APC NWC meets Gbajabiamila, other Reps
The APC leadership also met on Thursday with
some of its House of Representatives members
as part of efforts to douse the tension in the
National Assembly.
The members were led by Gbajabiamila and
Mungono.
A member of the team, Sani Zoro, said the
meeting was essentially to look for a way
forward out of the situation the party had found
itself.
Zoro said the APC had commenced the process
of deescalating the crisis with an approach which
would involve the Presidency, the National
Assembly and the party’s leadership.
According to him, what is uppermost in the
minds of party leaders now is how best to leave
the past and forge ahead.
He said, “The solutions that are being worked
out by the party, the Presidency and the National
Assembly are being triangulated.
“I can assure you that it will accommodate all
the concerns and fears and at the end of it, it
will provide a single template that all will key
into. All that has happened is in the past
because we have to defend the government that
we have put in place, war cannot be the
solution.”
“Measures have been agreed upon that will
deescalate the crisis. I assure you that those
who are the masterminds of the crisis who
thought they are going to benefit politically from
it will be surprised.”
Zorro added that it would not be out of place if
the APC took appropriate actions against all
its National Assembly members who entered
into an “unholy alliance” with members of the
opposition PDP.
I won’t go to court, says Gbajabiamila
Gbajabiamila told journalists after the meeting
that they were prepared to work in the interest
of the party and the Federal Government.
He said that members of the APC in the House
decided to visit the national leadership of the
party on how to unite and strengthen the party
for service delivery.
Asked if he would challenge the election of
Dogara in court, he said, “Go to court for what?
But I don’t k know about the Senate. I can only
speak about the House. Nothing happened in the
House; we had an election so it is different from
the Senate. In the Senate, people were deprived
of their fundamental rights to express themselves
by voting.”
Mungono, in his comments, said it was normal
in political settings for more than one person to
show interest in a position.
He however said when a political party chooses
to organise an in-house election where
candidates emerge, all loyal members must
respect it.
Mongono said, “As it is now, that (the election of
Saraki and Dogara) is a reality on the ground.
And we have to deal with it. We are loyal
members of a party that is in control of the
government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
and as such, we will not take any step that will
affect the interest, the peace and order and good
governance of this country.”
It was also learnt in Abuja on Thursday that
Presidency might have intervened in the crisis
generated by the election of Saraki, Dogara
and Ike Ekweremadu, a PDP lawmaker.
A high ranking member of the APC made this
known to The PUNCH on Thursday shortly after
the NWC also met with some of the SUF
members.
The SUF comprises 27 senators solidly backing
Ahmed Lawan, the anointed candidate for the
Senate Presidency.
They and Lawan were also among the 51
senators that were waiting for a scheduled
meeting with Buhari at the International
Conference Centre, Abuja, when 57 of their
colleagues elected Saraki, a former Governor of
Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum, as Senate President.
Shortly after the NWC meeting started, the APC
National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun,
allegedly received a message that his attention
was needed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at
the Presidential Villa.
The high ranking party source,who did not want
his name in print, also said that Saraki and
Dogara might only be cautioned by the APC for
defying its directive not to contest the two
highest positions in the National Assembly.
He said, “Our leaders at the highest level have
waded into the matter As I speak to you, the
general feeling is that, we cannot afford to allow
the National Assembly issue to further polarise
our party.
“Saraki, Dogara and their supporters are most
likely to get away with words of caution because
the deed has been done.”
The party source however said the Presidency
was disturbed about the emergence of
Ekweremadu as deputy president of the Senate.
When one of our correspondents contacted the
Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, and
Mohammed on the Presidency’s alleged
intervention, they said they were unaware of it.
Don’t harass N’Assembly Clerk, PDP warns APC
The PDP has asked the Presidency and the APC
not to intimidate or harass the Clerk of the
National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, and the
National Assembly Service Commission for their
roles in the controversial elections of the
leadership of the National Assembly.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa
Metuh, in a statement on Thursday, said that
any attempt by the APC to transfer its
frustration to Maikasuwa and the commission
would amount to victimisation.
He said the undertone of the statement by
Buhari’s spokesman, Shehu, that the Clerk was
notified of a meeting between the President and
the APC lawmakers “amounts to putting
undue pressure on civil servants in the National
Assembly for performing their legitimate duties
and sends a serious signal which should not be
ignored.”
Metuh described as unfortunate, the fact that the
APC displayed its “arrogance and disrespect for
the dictates of the constitution” by attempting to
adjust the President’s promulgation order on the
National Assembly and seeking to put their
interest over and above the supreme law of the
land.
He added, “It is a clear mark of disrespect to the
constitution for the President and his party to fix
a meeting for him to address their legislators the
same time he had directed the Assembly to be
inaugurated in line with the constitution.
“For 16 years that PDP nurtured democracy in
this country, there was never a day it attempted
to arm-twist or intimidate the bureaucracy of the
National Assembly to do its bidding given our
recognition and respect for the independence and
sanctity of the legislative arm.
“The National Assembly is the citadel of
democracy and represents the collective voice of
all Nigerians. The PDP, even in opposition will
continue to protect its sanctity and will therefore
resist any attempt by the APC to undermine its
independence and those of other democratic
institutions in our country.”
Metuh noted that the position of the APC and
the Presidency clearly negated Buhari’s well-
received and praised assertion in his inaugural
speech that he belonged to everybody and not to
anybody.
He said, “By the last minute attempt to shift the
inauguration time for party interest, the President
violates his Presidential oath to defend the
constitution and serve the nation without fear or
favour and irrespective of party, religion and
tribe, as he did not consider the interests of
other political parties and the generality of
Nigerians.”
Metuh added that emerging events have
continued to justify PDP’s position that the APC
was ill-equipped and unprepared for the
challenge of ruling the country.
According to him, these became glaring in the
way and manner the APC handled a very vital
issue like the inauguration of the National
Assembly.
He said, “From March 28, 2015 to June 9, the
APC had about 74 days within which it was
expected to put its house in order and present
its leaders for the 8th National Assembly, but it
could not because of the greed and selfishness
of its so-called godfathers who instead chose to
fix their party meeting the same time the
President was scheduled to inaugurate the
National Assembly.”
Metuh advised that rather than vilify the Clerk,
the APC should commend him for his patriotic
and courageous stand that had helped minimise
the embarrassment the shifting the inauguration
would have brought to the country
internationally.
He therefore charged the Presidency and APC to
apologise to Nigerians for the embarrassment
their ineptitude and inexperience had been
causing the nation since they came into office.

CC : lalasticlala

K

Baby come and sit on my lap while we watch and wait

why? cos Tinubu have been beaten hands down.?