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*Plans to block PDP, others from choice of Assembly leadership
*It’s winner takes all, party tells opposition
*Asks Ndume to subordinate to party
By Ezeocha Nzeh (Group Politics Editor)
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday, gave an insight on how it intends to pick the leadership of the 9th National Assembly, during its inauguration in June.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu, said in Abuja that the party does not envisage there would be an election on the floor of the Senate or House of Representatives for the purpose of electing the Assembly leadership.
Issa-Onilu stated that the ruling party could resort to providing the names and offices to be occupied by its elected members, insisting that this time around, “it’s winner takes all”.
He emphasised: “Once you win, you take whatever you won. There is no room for power sharing. We do not need it because we do not need them (PDP), to run this government”.
“I have listened to the PDP react to this and in their usual style, they exhibited gross ignorance. What we practice in Nigeria is the Presidential System of Government and in such a system, it’s winner takes all.
“We have enough number to run this government and in any case, when we were campaigning, we never told Nigerians that we were going to share power with any other party”.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had insisted that all elected Senators and members of the House of Representatives are constitutionally eligible to seek election into any leadership office, including the office of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The opposition party maintained that the two portfolios are not the exclusive preserve of any political party, but a constitutional right of every all elected lawmakers in the two chambers.
National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, had on Tuesday said “it amounts to empty grandstanding and self-delusion for President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, to posture as if the presiding offices and committee chairmanship in the National Assembly are the exclusive rights of the APC.
“For emphasis, Section 50 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is clear in providing that there shall be:- (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves”.
“Section 92 (1) makes the same provision for the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of State House of Assembly,” Ologbondiyan said.
PDP reminded Buhari and Oshiomhole that the APC had in the past benefited from the provisions of section 50, with the defection of then Speaker Aminu Tambuwal from PDP to the APC, on October 2014, without relinquishing the speakership of the House to the PDP, a development the PDP recalled was applauded by Buhari, as then opposition leader, and the APC, through its then National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.
Also, a leading APC contender to the position of Senate president, Senator Ali Ndume (Bornu South), while opposing the APC insisted that such endorsements run contrary to provisions of section 50 (1A) of the 1999 constitution.
However, defending the APC’s position, Issa-Onilu said although what happened in 2015 was not undemocratic, it was considered political treachery, adding that Nigerians have punished the people involved in the infamy, having retired them compulsorily from politics.
He said: “We patterned our Presidential system of government after the USA. When last did you see them go to the floor to elect their Speaker? Any party that has the majority automatically has the speaker.
“If you remember, Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Immediately, the Republicans got a majority, she became the Minority Leader.
“It is automatic, except where you have traitors; people who do not have a commitment to values whose only interest are to foster their own selfish desires.
“In the last election in the US, when Democrats became the majority, Pelosi reverted and became the Speaker.
*We don’t envisage an election
Continuing, he said: “All the Principal Officers are determined by the simple majority and because Nigerians have given us more than what we had even in the out-going dispensation, we have enough to elect all our officers.
“We do not need a single vote from the PDP and in any case, we don’t actually envisage any election on that day because we are going to present to our members to occupy these positions and it is the collective position of the party and all our members are very experienced politicians who understand what this means.
“When they get to the floor, they are going to read out the names and if the PDP so desires, they can bring a candidate and follow that candidate with the number they have got.
“So, it will be an exercise in futility for PDP to nurse the ambition to share from what Nigerians have taken from them.
“It is not the party that will determine whether there will be an election or not. By the time we announce these names, having a clear majority on the floor, anyone that wants to oppose would have to present his candidates, backing them up with numbers.
“So, there is only one person being put forward and then you have a consensus. So even if there is going to be an election, it would be a mere formality,” Issa-Onilu stressed.
*Asks Ndume to subordinate to party
The APC spokesperson maintained that Sen. Ali Ndume, who had expressed interest in contesting against Lawan was merely expressing his democratic rights, adding that he must subscribe to the dictates of the party.
“The day he subscribed to be a member of the APC, he signed off to abide by the dictates of the party, and we take what has happened in the last 24 hours as an expression of how badly the news hit him, but we are also conscious of the fact that Sen. Ali Ndume is a respected member of the APC, he is a leader in this party and we know he knows the right thing to do and on whose side he rightly belongs, and that also includes any other persons who have such grievances,” he added.
source: authorityngr.com/2019/03/28/nass-leadership-apc-rules-out-voting/