House of Representatives’ All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers from the Southsouth yesterday rejected the proposed leadership appointments sent to the National Working Committee of the party by a group in the House.
Speaking at a news conference at the National Assembly, Leader of Southsouth APC Caucus Pally Iriase said as members of the Loyalist Group, they were not consulted over the appointments. Iriase was at the briefing with two members, Peter Akpatason and Aisowierem Patrick.
The statement with the title: ‘Rejection of the proposed leadership appointments by the Southsouth Caucus of the APC members in the House of Representatives’, reads: “It has come to our notice that a proposal purportedly emanating from the Loyalists Group of the House of Representatives had been sent to the NWC of APC wherein the Southsouth is said to be allotted the position of deputy Chief Whip.
“Our immediate reaction is to repudiate the fraudulent and insensitive proposal.
“We are members of the Loyalists Group and to the best of our knowledge, no proposal for the zoning of Principal Officers was discussed and agreed to by any member of the Southsouth in the Loyalists Group. Unilateral and self-serving proposal by a few members cannot be said to have come from the group.
“The proposal is insensitive to the extent that the Southsouth is being denied at least a substantive office while concentrating the substantive Principal Offices in the zones already favoured in the House of Representatives.
“We reject a proposal that purports to zone House Leader to Southwest in addition to Deputy Speaker and Chief Whip to Northeast in addition to the position of the Speaker already held.
“We reject the proposal and hereby call the Speaker to be mindful of the principle of Federal Character which is contained in the Constitution which he swore to uphold and defend.
“Finally, it must be noted that it is this insensitive and selfish behaviour that led to the unfortunate debacle in National Assembly on June 9 and we posit that APC must learn to have an inclusive government, so that Nigeria can move forward in peace.”