With the Nigerian National Assembly set to reconvene on Tuesday, loyalist members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives have accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara of planning to use the sergeant-at-arms to shut them out of the chamber. At a press briefing in Abuja, the group claimed that Mr. Dogara was planning to resort to the extraordinary measure as a punishment for the group’s rejection of his recently unveiled distribution of leadership posts in the House.
A spokesman for the group, Nasiru Sani Zangon Daura told the press that he and other members dissociated themselves from Mr. Dogara’s “Trojan” offer of principal officer positions to some members of the group. He added that the speaker’s offer was an attempt to woo some of their number to his camp at the expense of the party's position. The spokesman claimed that the alliance between Speaker Dogara and the PDP was formed to sabotage President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda for change in the country.
Restating their members’ commitment to the APC’s manifesto, Mr. Daura declared that his group would resist any attempt to infringe on their legislative privileges and rights. He stated that, in order to have a genuine agreement that is not tainted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Dogara group must first cut off ties between them and the PDP, and secondly, engage in serious reconciliatory discussions with his group “through our approved members under the leadership of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.”
The APC group added: “We know that this unholy agreement between the disloyal Dogara group and the PDP entails the deployment of PDP members and the disloyal APC group in strategic positions in the structures and committees of the House. The purpose of this strategic deployment is to enable the PDP to indirectly dictate the pace and activities of the National Assembly to the detriment of our party’s goals and objectives.”
Below is a long excerpt from the text of the group’s statement:
Good day gentlemen of the Press,
I am Representative Nasiru Sani Zangon Daura of the All Progressive Congress (APC) representing Zango/Baure Federal Constituency of Katsina State. We are here on behalf of our colleagues of the APC Loyalists Group to present to you our current position on the lingering crisis in the House.
We the members of APC Loyalists Group are appreciative of the fact that millions of Nigerians voted us under the platform of the APC because of their desire to bring about change as embodied in our party's agenda.
We also note that the historic election that paved the way for the opportunity of the emergence of an APC government in the Executive and Legislative arms of Government, had also presented an opportunity to consign the PDP into oblivion even though we are open to constructive engagement from the opposition party in the House. This is being halted due to the activities of a few disloyal members of our party who already formed an unholy alliance with the PDP in the House.
We also note that in the elections of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives there was an unsanctioned and unholy alliance between the members of the opposition parties in the House and the 39 disloyal members of the APC in the House that connived to produce the Dogara Speakership.
We had hoped that with a difference of just eight votes between Dogara and Femi, Speaker Dogara would have realized the need to cultivate a united House of Representatives.
We are also cognizant that in politics there are always the subversive activities and antics of fifth columnists in any political movement to contend with. We are also aware that this unholy alliance is a bid to truncate President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda, which include his anti-corruption stance by using the National Assembly, at the very minimum, to slow it down if they cannot stop this Presidential initiative dead cold.
We know that this unholy agreement between the disloyal Dogara group and the PDP entails the deployment of PDP members and the disloyal APC group in strategic positions in the structures and committees of the House. The purpose of this strategic deployment is to enable the PDP to indirectly dictate the pace and activities of the National Assembly to the detriment of our party’s goals and objectives.
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated severally and just recently at the Party’s NEC meeting that [the] Party decisions are supreme. We stand by him.
We also note the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) position concurring with the above statement of the President. We stand by our Party.
We also need to state that the APC Governors Forum appointed mediation and reconciliation committee under the leadership of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal held [a] meeting in the Sokoto State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro and at the conclusion of that meeting with the APC Loyalist group, it was resolved together with the Governor that he will meet us again for a second meeting after he would have met with the Speaker Dogara group. This second meeting between Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and our group is yet to take place.
We deplore the continued defiance of the APC and the APC House Caucus by Speaker Dogara as indicated in his disloyal letter to our Party National Chairman. We are also not aware of any concession(s) made by the Speaker Dogara Group to the APC Loyalist Group contrary to insinuations in the media.
To have a genuine agreement that is not tainted by the PDP, the Dogara group will have to first of all cut off the umbilical cord between them and the PDP and secondly engage in candid reconciliatory discussions with our group as a whole through our approved members under the leadership of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. We are however aware of the Trojan offers of Party Principal Officers’ positions being made to individuals in our group in their individual capacities in order to lure them from our group.
We hereby restate for the avoidance of any doubt that this struggle is not about FEMI GBAJABIAMILA, YAKUBU DOGARA, ALHASSAN ADO DOGUWA, M.T. MONGUNO or PALLY IRIASE. This is about being loyal and committed to [the] party's manifesto, which amongst others includes the fight against corruption by President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is all about preventing the PDP from hijacking the National Assembly from our party and imposing its corrupted will on President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda for change.
We hereby assure all those that voted for the APC, that we will never betray the trust you reposed in us as your elected representatives in the House, due to our selfish interest. We wish to inform you that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back and this is part of the debilitating measures already at work.
To the Speaker Dogara Group and their PDP allies we are aware of your attempt to deny entry into the House of Representative Chambers to members of the Loyalist Group especially the likes of Hon. Aliyu Madaki, Hon. Rufai Chanchangi, Hon. Philip Shaibu, Hon. Mohamed Soba, Hon. Isa Aliyu Zuru, Hon. Ahmed Babba Kaita, Hon. Ismaila Sulaiman, Hon. James Faleke, Hon. Yusuf Ikara, Hon. Abdullahi Salame and Hon. Abubakar Chika.
We strongly warn Speaker Dogara that we will not take any breach of our members' privileges lightly and we will hold you, Speaker Dogara, personally responsible. Honor is earned through honorable actions. A word is enough for the wise!
However, we also hereby sincerely accept the apology made by Hon. M.T. Monguno for being misled into attending [a] press conference organized by Speaker Dogara's group yesterday.
We have, therefore, resolved that enough is enough of the shenanigans of the PDP and Speaker Dogara group.