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Tag: APC Reps

  • Budget presentation: We showed our strength, says APC Reps

    The caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives said its reaction to the booing of President Muhammadu Buhari at Wednesday’s budget presentation was spontaneous and not planned.

    The lawmakers said they were duty-bound to protect the President, having been convinced of the modest efforts he is putting in to set the country and the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

    Oluwarotimi Agunsoye (Lagos) told The Nation that countering opposition parties jeering a the President was a duty for APC members.

    He said: “We didn’t plan anything. What happened was that in the morning on arriving at the National Assembly, we noticed, having heard that PDP members were planning to disrupt the whole proceeding and embarrass the President, we knew we had to act.

    “If you noticed, we couldn’t display normal placards; we only scribbled our thoughts on whatever we were able to lay our hands on.

    “What we did was to show our strength; we showed them that we are still in the majority.

    “What got us fired up is the fact that having done so much to set the country and the economy on the path of growth and development, for reasons best known to them, they still want to bring the nation backward and they felt that to embarrass the President was the best way.

    “There is no way we are going to allow that; that was why we rose to the occasion.

    “What you saw yesterday (Wednesday) was corruption fighting back and that is sad.”

    Nnanna Igbokwe (Imo), who corroborated Agunsoye’s account, gave an insight into what transpired among the lawmakers before the arrival of Mr. President.

    He said: “I can state that the APC Caucus of the House of Representatives was unaware of the plan of the PDP Caucus to obstruct and prevent the presentation of the budget.

    “You can agree with me that if we had the slightest knowledge – we are parliamentarians, we are colleagues – we would have taken every necessary step to lobby our colleagues.

    “But I think they had a plan to create a scene like you saw and maybe as a way of making their voice to be heard to show the seriousness about the concerns they have or the issues in contention, hoping that it may give them the desired result.

    “It is unfortunate, because whatever it is, there are better approaches you may use in addressing those issues as parliamentarians and when it became obvious, within the floor, it was now sensed and that had to cause an emergency (executive) meeting to be called where the leadership of the House, the Speaker personally appealed to everybody, given the intelligence available to him that there was need for us to comport ourselves.

    “He appealed that it was  a major assignment; we have other avenues to checkmate the government or to solve the issues brought before us, and presentation does not mean approval.”

  • Electoral Amendment Bill: Legal Dept responsible for flaws, say APC Reps

    HOLD the National Assembly’s Legal Department responsible for the flaws identified in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2018, the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the House of Representatives said yesterday.

    The flaws made President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign the bill ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    Buhari said it would be an error on the part of the National Assembly to attempt to override him on a bill in which errors had been discovered.

    Majority Leader and leader of the Caucus Femi Gbajabiamila blamed the flaws on the legal unit in a chat with reporters at the National Assembly sequel to an emergency meeting of the Caucus.

    He said lawmakers in the two chambers should not be blamed but rather the Legal Department which was in charge of drafting the bill for the law makers.

    According to him, all necessary adjustments ought to have been made before passing it to both chambers for further legislative action.

    He said: “A dot or punctuation can change the meaning of a provision in the law. Just a single coma can change the meaning and make it ambiguous.

    “If the document is imperfect and you can read it anyhow or if a coma was removed when it should have been there, you cannot even override that imperfect document. You have to first of all amend that document and start the process all over again and send it back to Mr. President.

    “As a party, we are not going to be part of those to override the President’s document.

    “Mr. President has done well. If you study the constitution very well, it does not oblige the President to give any reason for veto.

    “All he has to do is return it and say am not signing. He doesn’t have to give you any reason. But every time he has done that, he has brought forward cogent verifiable reasons why he is not signing.

    “On this particular one, I believe why the President has refused to sign which we identify with is that every vote must count in Nigeria”, Gbajabiamila said.

    The lawmaker said the effect of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is that it could only accredit voters through the electronic system, adding that it would prevent manual registration.

    The leader said: “What the president has done is to protect everybody in Nigeria. Yes, do your electronic registration but make room for manual else millions will be disenfranchised and we don’t want that.

    “It is a constitutional guarantee that everybody that resides in Nigeria has the right to vote and be voted for. So, we can’t breach the constitution through an amendment.”

    Read also: Electoral Bill: Override Buhari’s assent, Agbakoba tells NASS

    Gbajabiamila said the caucus was behind President Buhari’s decision in declining assent to the bill.

    The President said assenting to the bill could lead to chaos and disenfranchisement of millions of Nigerians from voting.

    The House leader said the correct thing to do would be for both chambers to make necessary amendment in the bill in line with President Buhari’s observations and re-transmit it for his signature.

    He said: “On this particular one, I believe why the President has refused to sign which we identify with is that every vote must count in Nigeria.

    “What the president has done is to protect everybody in Nigeria. Yes, do your electronic registration but make room for manual else millions will be disenfranchised and we don’t want that.

    “It is a constitution guarantee that everybody that resides in Nigeria has the right to vote and be voted for. So, we can’t breach the constitution through an amendment.”

    Gbajabiamila said the caucus had more than enough members to stop the veto of the Bill as being touted by some schools of thought.

    For this reason, the National Assembly could not muster the figure to veto the Bill.

  • APC Reps advise PDP Caucus to go to court

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the House of Representatives has advised the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart to approach the court over the impeachment saga in Benue State Assembly.

    In a statement yesterday, the House Leader  Femi Gbajabiamila said rather than blaming President Muhammadu Buhari over the issue, such a move will find support from the APC members.

    The statement reads: “While we agree that the purported impeachment of the Benue State Speaker by eight members cannot pass the smell test under the constitution, we find it strange and hyperbolic that the PDP caucus in the House in a knee jerk reaction will try to tie the President to same.

    “In tandem with our party, PDP has been screaming restructuring and federalism to high heavens and one wonders why the same party will now blame the activities of an independent state assembly on Mr. President.

    “As for the police, the matter is serious enough and one would expect the PDP members to immediately push for the reconvening of the House so as to probe the exact role played by the police. In legislative work, there are procedures to be followed.

    “We believe it is precipitous and not a proper understanding of the law and legislative procedure to say the PDP would stop the reconvening of the House and passage of the virement with their numbers as this requires only a simple majority. Something the APC has in abundance in the House.

    “It is more befuddling that there seems to be more misunderstanding of the required number to form a quorum. A quorum is 1/3rd of members again a number our party has in abundance.

    “Finally as legislators we believe in the constitutionally enshrined separation of powers and as such rather than look to the President, the PDP caucus should challenge the matter in court. We are sure it will be a slam dunk based on the prima facie facts before us.

  • Buhari to APC Reps: obey party’s directive on offices

    Buhari to APC Reps: obey party’s directive on offices

    Oyegun, Dogara, Gbajabiamila: there’ll be good news today

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday reiterated his stand on the National Assembly’s leadership crisis. The party’s position is supreme, he told members of the troubled House of Representatives.

    Buhari is said to have told the lawmakers: “Obey the party.”

    The main actors in the crisis appeared to be ready for peace.  That was the feeler after a meeting the All Progressives Congress (APC) House members held with the President ended in a deadlock.

    The feuding parties – headed by Speaker Yakubu Dogara and former House Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila – refused to shift ground on the sharing of principal officers’ positions.

    The meeting, which was held at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, began at about 5.40pm. It lasted just 20 minutes.

    Dogara and Gbajabiamila led their groups to the meeting, which was attended by some members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC), led by the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

    Gbajabiamila’s group is demanding that the APC’s position on the selection of principal officers be implemented by the Speaker, whose Consolidation Group believes that federal character must be reflected in the sharing of offices.

    But, at the end of the 20-minute parley, both groups were optimistic that the end to the crisis was in sight.

    On emerging from the meeting, both camps agreed with the President’s counsel that the party should not be undermined.

    The President was said to be unequivocal that the “unity of the APC in the House is central to ensuring that the party delivers the promised change to Nigerians”.

    Dogara told State House correspondents that his loyalty to the party remained unshaken, adding that he was open to a quick resolution of the crisis.

    He said: “I have always stood firmly by the party, there has never been a time that I never stood firmly by the party.

    “So, like my chairman has explained, we are going into consultations with the party and I am sure sooner than later, we will have good news for Nigerians.”

    Gbajabiamila said party supremacy was exhaustively discussed, adding that the outcome of another consultation towards an early resolution of the crisis would be made public.

    Gbajabiamila said: “We are still talking. But I think this is the first time everybody is coming together in a cordial atmosphere. We came together for the first time as one family, with a lot of camaraderie.

    “I think we are almost at the point where all of these will be behind us. Hopefully, by tomorrow (today). It is not about magic; it is about what should have been done a long time ago.

    “We have finally sat down together and we will resolve it before the night, in a couple of hours.The important thing is that the country wants to move ahead. The House wants to move ahead and the party wants to move ahead. Move ahead, we shall.

    “Whoever or whatever outside forces that might have been stoking the fire, I think we would put that to an end this evening at the meeting.”

    Odigie-Oyegun said the party would have good news for the nation bytomorrow (today).

    According to him, yesterday’s meeting achieved a lot, notwithstanding its brevity.

    The chair said: “Everything is upbeat. You can see that I am smiling. You will be very surprised that a lot was achieved in 20 minutes.

    “As the chairman of the party, I can say that there are no discordant tunes. You can see the Speaker of the House standing firmly beside me and I have a feeling that in another three or four hours and by tomorrow, we will have good news for the nation.

    “It is never too late to straighten the path.”