Election Of NASS Principal Officers: APC Set For Showdown In Fresh Crisis

Posted by Odinaka on Fri 19th Jun, 2015 - tori.ng

In its bid to impose principal officers in the National Assembly, fresh crisis is reportedly brewing within the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) as the party is now pitched against the leadership of the National Assembly. It was gathered that the party is on the path of imposing candidates on NASS for the remaining leadership positions in the two chambers, a move majority of APC lawmakers have vowed to resist.

Since the election of the leaders in both chambers, the positions of majority leader, deputy majority leader, majority whip and deputy majority whip were yet to be filled.

A serving lawmaker, who confided in LEADERSHIP, said they were ready for another showdown with the top leadership of the party on the matter.

“We are tired of just a few people trying to impose their candidates on us and we will resist it. How can just a few persons decide to put their own interest before that of the party? The best we can do is allow these people choose the zone the positions will go to but for them to handpick the candidates, we say no!.

“Party supremacy supersedes personal interests. We will not allow a few hands to hijack a party that we all laboured to bring to power. We are the ones who will work with these people so we will choose who we want. Just like the previous attempt, this is already dead on arrival,” he stressed.

Barely two weeks ago, some members of the party in the two chambers of the National Assembly defied the order of their party to vote for Senator Ahmad Lawan as senate president and Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as speaker of the House of Representatives, and instead, the APC lawmakers joined forces with members of the PDP, leading to the emergence of Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu, as senate president and deputy president, while the House elected Yakubu Dogara and Yusuf Lasun, as speaker and deputy.