NASS leadership: Don’t break your ranks, Buhari tells Reps-elect

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday night appealed to elected members of the of House Representatives on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to break their ranks in the choice of the leadership of the ninth National Assembly.

The president made the call at a dinner he organised for the members-elect at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja. 

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Mr Femi Adesina told State House correspondents that the president called for unity among APC members.

“90 to 95 percent of them are in unison, seems to agree on the position of the party. Unanimity ran through the meeting. We cannot speak for the five percent. 

“The president urged them to maintain the unity referring to what transpired in 2015…if there is disunity in their ranks, then anything can happen. He urged them to maintain the unity and stand by the position of the party,” he said. 

National chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, presented Leader of the House Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, as the preferred choice of the party for the speakership position, Rep Abdulmumini Jibrin, told journalists.

Source at the meeting said the president declined to make comment on Gbajabiamila’s choice by the party. 

According to the source, Rep Ahmed Idris, representing Wase Federal Constituency stood up after the presentation of Gbajabiamila to express surprise after he was asked to step down from the position of the speaker and take over as deputy speaker, his name was not mentioned at the dinner for the position.

The APC chairman also stressed the need for the lawmakers to be united to be able to get all the leadership positions in the National Assembly considering their numerical strength. 

“If you are elected, it means you are tested and trusted…In life, mistakes are permitted but it becomes a problem if the mistake is repeated twice. We are determined not to repeat the mistakes of 2015 in 2019, we have learnt our lesson.

Out of 223 APC elected members, about 67 were re-elected, the rest are new members. In other climes, you don’t go into coalition when you are in the majority, you do so when you don’t have the numbers. 

“We have the numbers, out of 306, Nigerians elected 223 APC members because they don’t want Mr.  president to face the trauma of 2015. Most of those who decamped were rejected and even those who led it were uprooted. We cannot as a party which has a comfortable majority, entrust critical committees in the hands of the PDP or opposition. 

“If Nigerians wanted them, they could have voted them. In the days of PDP, every committee were chaired by PDP members. Saraki, Dogara selfish, greedy. We do not need to do business with the devil for us to survive in the ninth Assembly.

“In African family, we sit down in a closed door to address issues, the good news is that there is a role for everyone. Neither mr president nor the party expects the National Assembly to be rubber stamps, we don’t have rubbers…But we will not fight in Wuse market. Both the re-elected and new members are entitled to heading committees. We have asked our people not to share what belongs to us with other party members. I don’t have apologies against forces of retrogression,” he said. 

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