Hehehe...The All Progressives Congress’ state
governors have expressed concern about the ongoing leadership crisis in
the National Assembly.
They have, therefore, decided to invite
their senators and prevail on them on the need to respect the party’s
supremacy on any matter.
The decision was taken at a late night
meeting the APC governors had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
The meeting, which was held behind closed-doors, ended in the early hours of Wednesday.
At
the end of the meeting, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State told
State House correspondents that he and his colleagues were worried by
the development in the National Assembly and decided to discuss the
matter with the President.
Okorocha said the governors believed that the party’s position should be respected.
He said they also used the opportunity
of the meeting to commend the President on the steps he had taken so far
to address the issue of the nation’s economy, which he said, was
literarily in a shambles.
Okorocha described the meeting with the President as reassuring, adding that there is light at the dark end of the tunnel.
He said, “With all these achievements
and progress we are making, we are worried by the pockets of
disagreements going on at the National Assembly.
“We have resolved that we came from a party and our party’s views should be respected.
“So, we feel that there is the need for
us to invite our senators and look more into the matter and see how we
can all make peace.
“We believe that everyone should respect
our party from which we all came from and for that reason, we have
decided that we are going to invite our senators and rub minds with
them.
“We are saying that there should not be a
winner-take-all attitude, that we should carry everybody along and
accommodate others as suggested by the party.”
Also, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State said all they agreed on was that senators should adopt the position of the party.
He said, “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 is a game of individuals like golf then individuals can
go their own 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 we 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, we listen
to the party, 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, it is about party supremacy.”
The meeting which started at about a few minutes before 11pm on Wednesday was attended by 16 APC governors.
It was reliably gathered that President
at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Senate
President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was rubbishing the zoning formula adopted
by the party to choose the principal officers of the party in the
Senate.
He was also said not to be happy with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on the same issue.
It was gathered that the President
wondered why it was difficult for all elected members of the party to
realise that without the party giving them ticket, they wouldn’t be
where they are today.
One of the governors, who was at the
meeting, told one of our correspondents that the President mandated them
(the governors ) to convey his displeasure to all those concerned.
“The President is not happy with the
leadership of the Senate at all. This is because he felt that members of
the Senate who are from our party should lead by example,” he said.
He said the President felt that Saraki,
being a senior member of the party, a former governor and an experienced
senator, should be able to carry the party along and also listen to the
directive and suggestions made by the party.
The governor said that although the
President had said he was ready to work with Saraki, he would have
preferred that the zoning done by the party was adhered to.
He said, “The President does not need to come out openly to speak on the issue like this, because he is father to all.
“But he told us last night that he was
not happy with what is happening to the party at the National Assembly
through its leadership.
“He said that since the lawmakers are
from our states and that we supported them, we should go and talk to
them before things go out of hand.
“The President, with the way he spoke,
knows that the National Assembly crisis, if not treated with care and
maturity, is capable of affecting his government.”
When contacted, the Special Adviser to
the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said what Buhari
was quoted to have said at the meeting was not different from his
position immediately after the National Assembly elections.
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