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Tag: national assembly

  • National Assembly after Saraki and Tambuwal

    For drama, there are very few institutions that can match Nigeria’s National Assembly. On a given day, anything could happen: from legislators hurling chairs at each other or exchanging blows, to masked thugs invading the chamber to spirit the mace away.

    Sometimes the entertainment is provided by external forces. For instance, in the dying days of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, the lawmakers arrived for work one day to discover that all entrances had been blocked by the police.

    It was part of the fallout from the power play between Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal who had been flirting openly with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). At that point, the votes of the opposition were the only thing sustaining him in office.

    Enraged that they couldn’t gain entrance into their offices, and fearful that the executive was about to pull off something unsavoury against their man, the more excitable and adventurous among the legislators took to scaling the high gates and fences – not minding the impediment of their billowing agbadas. In the end the police backed off and normalcy was restored.

    More recently in August last year, it was the secret police in the form of hooded State Security Service (SSS) agents that arrived to seal off the assembly. Assisted by truckloads of the regular cops, their assignment was ostensibly to supervise the overthrow of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu.

    But such was the backlash that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo removed the then SSS Director-General, Lawal Daura, from his position.

    From the early days of the Fourth Republic, the assembly has been a hotbed of intrigue as a succession of Senate Presidents and Speakers were toppled in messy coups at the behest of the Executive.

    Among victims were the likes of Evans Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Anyim Pius Anyim, Adolphus Wabara, Salisu Buhari, Patience Etteh and Dimeji Bankole.

    While the legislature is a separate arm of government, its ability to choose its leadership without interference from external forces, has been limited. Although the arms are supposed to work in concert, the parliament’s power over the national purse as well as constitutional role in the possible impeachment of a president or governor makes it a threat to insecure politicians in the executive branch.

    This fact has often defined the relationship between the two sides. Many in the executive believe that they can only sleep with two eyes closed if they install a stooge to lead the legislature. On the part of the lawmakers many chafe under this constraint as they struggle to balance the desire for cordial ties with their constitutional duty to provide checks and balances.

    Under President Olusegun Obasanjo, the National Assembly was a very unstable place for those who led the institution. His successors – Umaru Yar’Adua and Jonathan – were less overbearing and allowed the lawmakers greater room for self-expression. But that didn’t stop the pattern of the executive overtly trying to install Senate Presidents and Speakers.

    That was until President Muhammadu Buhari famously washed his hands off the matter in 2015, declaring that he could work with anyone. His position was unprecedented in recent times and completely caught the APC leadership which was still trying to guide the succession process off-guard.

    In the vacuum that was created Saraki launched his power grab in the Senate with a bloc vote from the PDP, while half of the APC lawmakers were on a wild goose chase elsewhere in Abuja. In the House of Representatives, his confederate, Yakubu Dogara, pulled a similar stunt – again allying with elements of the opposition to defeat Femi Gbajabiamila who was backed by the party.

    While Saraki’s actions angered many within the ruling party’s leadership, his move was by no means original. Indeed, he had merely torn a page out of the APC’s very own play book as the party had openly cooperated with Tambuwal when he defied the PDP to run against the party approved candidate for Speaker, Mulikat Adeola. So, this was a case of unorthodox politics coming back to bite you.

    Since that episode, however, many have come to think that this is the proper way of doing things. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

    In pursuing their bids for self-actualisation, Saraki, Tambuwal and Dogara, trampled the concept of party supremacy underfoot. They probably felt they could later beg for forgiveness after deliberately sinning. It helped that at that point they were dealing with a naïve president and a weak party chairman.

    With attention now reverting to the National Assembly succession, many have been watching to see how the APC would handle things and how the PDP would play its own cards.

    Anxious not to allow a repeat of the debacle of four years ago, Buhari and the ruling party’s leaders have quickly seized the initiative by anointing Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan, to lead the upper chamber. They are believed also to have lined up the House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, for the Speaker slot.

    Further firing up controversy, APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, bluntly declared that the ruling party would not share power with the opposition. All committee chairs would be from the ruling party except for one slot constitutionally set aside for the opposition.

    While some have questioned whether this forceful intervention is wise given that it takes away much of the approved aspirant’s room for compromise, it does appear to have had an effect.

    It has only drawn muted protest from one aspirant – Senator Ali Ndume, but we’ve not witnessed the sort of mutinous response we saw in 2015. Buhari has also moved to mollify another interested party, Danjuma Goje.

    For its part, the PDP insists it would put up candidates to lead the National Assembly and would do everything in its power to derail the APC’s plans.

    Despite the criticism he has received, I can’t find much that is wrong with Oshiomhole’s position which simply echoes a basic principle that in a democracy the majority rules.

    Nigeria’s National Assembly, just like the presidency, is closely patterned after the United States’ model with minor modifications. In the US, the day to day business of the Senate is run by the Majority Leader and not a Senate President.

    However, succession from election to election is without fuss, as the most senior person simply moves into the next slot. For instance, when the Democrat’s Harry Reid was Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell of the Republican Party was Minority Leader. When the Republicans became the majority he became the leader of the Senate.

    The same thing happened in the  House of Representatives where Nancy Pelosi who used to be Minority Leader seamlessly stepped into the Speaker’s chair when the Democrats became the majority last November.

    In the same manner, it is the party with the largest number that heads the legislative committees. What occurred under Saraki in the Senate and Tambuwal and Dogara in the House with the two parties sharing chairmanships as equals was an aberration.

    They had to share power with the opposition because the manner in which they emerged demanded that there be a quid pro quo. Such arrangements are forced on you where you can’t muster a majority and have to cobble a working coalition together. It is uncalled for where you are in clear majority in the two chambers as is the case with the APC today.

    It is immoral politics for a party in minority to seek to rule over the majority. That would be like attempting to overturn the expressed will of the people.

    Rather than seek to govern a chamber where it is the second largest in number, the PDP should strive to excel in its opposition role and offer Nigerians a clear governance alternative.

    But such is the character of our politics today that despite its clear majorities in the House and Senate, there is still considerable trepidation within and without the APC as to whether it can make its members line up behind those backed by officialdom.

    There is this false notion that once people step into the chambers of the assembly, they should no longer be held to their partisan obligations. Nothing could be more wrongheaded. The Senate or House are not some special political clubs where legislators lose their partisan identifies.

    They are simply fora where people advance the vision of their parties for governing the country. Sometimes, there could be bipartisanship on issues. At other times voting could follow strict pary lines. It happens all over the world and we would not reinvent the wheel in Nigeria.

    I suspect that the case would be different in 2019 for a couple of reasons. The ruling party now has a strong leadership that has shown that it is able to confront those who were hitherto untouchables. Its handling of Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his Imo counterpart Rochas Okorocha attests to that.

    Secondly, there is no Saraki in this contest. In 2015, he was driven by ambition and the politics of the legacy groups within APC. Since the presidency was out of the question, the Senate Presidency was the next best thing his new-PDP could fight for. He had the profile, following and resources to go against the party line and emerge unscathed.

    The dynamics are different this time. Those expecting a repeat of what happened four years ago should ask themselves whether Goje or Ndume want the Senate Presidency so badly that they are willing to confront Buhari and the APC high command. How far would they be willing to go in pursuit of their ambition?

    But perhaps the most important factor in the struggle for power in the National Assembly is the fact that PDP has emerged from the elections stronger than before. It has taken four states from the APC and now has governors in all zones. The APC has lost its lone foothold in the Southeast – Imo State.

    But what it lost at gubernatorial level, it has made up for by adding control of the National Assembly to its grip on the presidency. For it to maintain the initiative going into the next election cycle, it only makes sense for it to unapologetically maximise its advantages. I suspect that the PDP would do the same if positions were swapped.

     

     

     

  • Going back to the archives – will Buhari’s anti-corruption war be an exercise in futility?

    I go back to this article – first published 6 February, 2016 – today simply because no time can be more opportune than now to draw attention to the unfortunate fact that our politicians are becoming progressively worse. Elections now over, it is obvious that no member of the National Assembly, old or new, indeed not even the predominantly APC members, who love to call themselves progressives, would see how unthinkable it is that at a N30,000 minimum wage, (N360,000 per annum), it will take an average Nigerian worker 982 years to earn a Nigerian senator’s yearly salary of  $2,183,686   (N353,756,988.00).

    No corruption is greater than this and I ask: will President Buhari confront this monstrosity head-on, or do we, M u m u Nigerians, just look on helpless at this gross reality? No, should the president do nothing about it, Nigerians should just storm the National Assembly like the Algerians are doing against a recalcitrant president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika,

    I digress.

    “What component of our education is missing in the upbringing of our political leaders who  loot the national treasury so much about 500  of them take 25% of the resources meant for 150 million Nigerians? What component of our education is missing in the development of our governors who, when caught in the net of EFCC, plea bargain or run away or use the court to cut the rest of us to pieces? I ask, what component of our education is missing in the training of our civil servants and contractors that make them inflate contracts, execute budget in the real sense of EXECUTION, and fiddle with documents to filch our finances? Finally, what component of our education is missing in the upbringing of our pastors and preachers that make them defecate on the altar of celestial adulation?” – Professor Oyewale Tomori, FAS, former Vice-Chancellor, Redeemer University.

    One needs not be an economist to know that Nigeria’s current economic circumstances demand a meeting of economically literate minds to clinically interrogate our problems and plot a way out, at least in the short term, since only a fundamental restructuring of Nigeria can cure its many ills.

    It is obvious that corruption, and our skewed structure, sit atop whatever has brought Nigeria to its present circumstances. A good reading of our history spanning the regimes of Ibrahim Babangida  right down  to President Goodluck Jonathan’s, will affirm the view that dealers, rather than leaders, ruled Nigeria throughout that long period.

    In the first place, these are a people who, in their years in office, neither diversified the Nigerian economy nor moderated their greed. Rather, they luxuriated in, and mercilessly frittered away, the billions of petro dollars that poured endlessly into the country’s coffers. Rather than encourage investment in agriculture and solid minerals, their greater concern was to amass huge personal fortunes that today see them living in stupendous luxury in hilltop mansions. Yet, despite their bulging wealth, they are so much without conscience they still collectively earn billions in pensions, and sundry benefits, at the expense of the majority poor.

    But that is not even half the story.

    As Dr Jide Oluwajuyitan recalls in “Dealers as Leaders”, (The Nation, Thursday, 3 March 2016): “the real tragedy is that Buhari is yet to start the war on corruption. All he has done so far is attacking the symptoms of a deep rooted malaise unleashed on our nation through Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and Obasanjo’s mismanaged privatisation programme. The former allowed his ‘army of anything goes’, to pillage our land like a conquered territory. Part of the fallout of that was the depreciation of the naira from the pre-SAP N1 to $1, to today’s over N300 to the $1. Obasanjo, in turn, in cahoots with Atiku, presided over the sale of N100Billion assets, acquired over a period of 50 years (1958 – 2008), for a paltry $1.6b, to dealers and wheelers, their fronts and acolytes who, in turn, embarked on asset stripping to buy private jets and build skyscrapers instead of efficiently running the industries they bought at next to nothing”.

    President Buhari cannot close his eyes to these, if he wants to win the anti corruption war.

    In like manner, their subalterns, as military governors etc, did no less harm to the country’s financial and economic well-being. Several other individuals, banks inclusive, have been used to steal the country blind as every penny of the stolen trillions went through banks. Nigerians can no longer wait to see some of these banks get heavily penalised and their directors hauled into jails if President Buhari really wants to make a success of the anti corruption war that has clearly defined him.

    The same day Oluwajuyitan wrote, a usually very restrained Emeritus Professor Jide Osuntokun could not help writing as follows in his own column in the same newspaper: “The kind of looting we are being told happened is enough to depress any sane and patriotic Nigerian.

    The level of looting poses existential threat to this republic. In China, some of what happened in the recent past would have attracted the ultimate punishment (death). Some of the stories sound like they are from Ali baba and the 40 thieves. People walk into the office of the National Security Adviser, sign a piece of paper, and walk out with a mandate to go to the CBN or banks where government has money to go and collect billions for some spurious work for government or the ruling party, or even for no work at all! Nigerian crude was sold without the treasury being credited with the proceeds. Billions, if not trillions, were shared among party bigwigs as if people were playing the game of monopoly with the nation’s money.

    Government’s decision to bring the guilty parties to book had better been speeded up before people lose their patience.

    Another reason for the lingering fear that informed the title of this article is what Stephanie Findlay of AFP calls: “the Goodluck Jonathan Alibi”. This alibi, already pleaded by Olisa Metuh, PDP’s erstwhile Publicity Secretary, in his money laundering ‘no case’ submission, and which, according to informed sources, the former National Security Adviser, Col.  Sambo Dasuki, would also plead, is that both men were obeying President Jonathan’s orders.

    It would appear that President Buhari is shielding the former president from being invited to testify, even if only as a witness. This is said to be on account of a so-called pledge to Jonathan on account of his election concession as if, with the President Gbagbo example, he had a choice.

    I just hope that  the president is aware that should these people go scot free, there goes his anti-corruption war (which some U.S state officials, for yet unknown reasons, recently tried to undermine by heavily under reporting its  number of  convictions which are now in the high hundreds).

    However, whichever way President Muhammadu Buhari chooses to be remembered by history is strictly in his own hands. Nigerians have just gifted him a tabula rasa on which to write his own epitaph.

    I wish him well.

     

    As Professor Adelabu delivers UNIFE 334th Inaugural Lecture

    If anybody should be absent at this  Inaugural, it shouldn’t have been me. What next could I do other than try to make up, a tweeny little bit, with this letter  to her straight from the heart.

    My dear Professor Dupe Adelabu,

    Nothing would have gratified me more than being present at your inaugural tomorrow, 26 March, 2019.

    Unfortunately, I had contacted a very bad cough at a nearby petrol station where I had been playing drought for some years, inhaling, unknown to me , oil fumes and smoke, albeit imperceptibly.

    Over the last weekend, I began to cough and soon completely lost my voice. Diagnosis: fume induced cough. .

    I have, since Saturday, communicated only by text messages, and signs, at home. Not a single phone call.

    Really, really terrible.

    I heartily congratulate you on this huge occasion, appreciating the gargantuan effort, and the amount of self denial, that must have gone into making the exemplary scholar we have in you today. Not only papa and mama, but my egbon, your darling sweetheart, and better half, now at the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the children, and your grandchildren, must be beside themselves with joy on this your great occasion.

    I salute your industry, your incomparable caring heart and your inimitable public service. I deeply appreciate your being an untiring prayer warrior, as prayer has been your greatest tool, of helping Ekiti state but more importantly, the governor, and his family.

    The good Lord will continue to be your guide and guardian as he upholds you, and all yours.

    So shall it be in the mighty name of Jesus.

    Amen.

    Tinuke sends her warmest congratulations.

  • Ex-lawmakers to ruling party: handle NASS leadership issue with tact

    The Forum of Former Members of the House of Representatives who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have asked the leadership of the party to be tactful in handling the issue of the leadership of the National Assembly.

    This, they said, was necessary to avoid a repeat of the 2015 mistake which became costly for the party in terms of executive/legislative relationship.

    The group believe that the leadership of the party must move fast to douse the likely tension that will emerge if the varied interests in the leadership are not streamlined on time and individuals are allowed to take positions like they did in 2015.

    Addressing a news conference in Abuja, spokesman of the Forum, Idris Yahuza Yakubu, said it was high time the party took a decision on the zones where each of the principal officers should come from before it becomes too late.

    While pledging to making themselves available to assist the party at all times, the former lawmakers believe that the party must be guided to toe the line of equity and fairness, suggesting that the cognate experience, party loyalty and acceptability among colleagues should be considered.

    They said the party should consider the fact that the North West and South West have already produced the President and Vice President, while the North East has been given the position of Senate President, hence the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives should go to the North Central zone.

    The forum said “As the APC tries to consolidate on its recent successes, the party must not lose focus but do all it can to stay on track by putting in place a structure that will support its programmes for improving on the lot of the people.

    “The eye of the public and indeed the international community is on us to see if we can translate this victory into something tangible for the entire nation and, more importantly, if we are able to put our act together to create the enabling environment.

    Read also: 9th NASS: APC zones Senate key offices

    “The foundation for building a cohesive and united Nigeria stands on the tripod of equity, justice and fairness, and this is where those of us who have been elected to the House of Representatives in the past, who have seen how the different arms of government are run, have decided to advise our beloved party on how best it can go about addressing the current agitations for geopolitical balancing in allocating the remaining top positions that would determine the shape of the next administration and engender a harmonious executive-legislature relationship for the good of the nation.

    “You will recall that in 2015, the APC made the mistake of not paying enough attention in the election of the leadership of the National Assembly and how the party nearly paid dearly for it by having to constantly battle with a hostile legislature since its leaders were not products of the party’s internal democratic arrangement.

    “The APC as the ruling party cannot afford to make that mistake again by leaving the choice of those to assume leadership positions in the National assembly to chance.

    “It is our strong view that the party must step forward to provide political direction to its elected members at the National Assembly by zoning all the leadership positions to the specific zones and, where possible, states.

    “This, we believe, will douse the unnecessary tension being generated in the bid by individual members from the different geopolitical divides of the country to aspire to those positions and avoid further digging of trenches which the party cannot afford to allow at this stage.

    “It is high time the party took a decision on this to make its stand known to the members of the party on time so as to prevent a repeat of the 2015 scenario where it was unable to stop vested interests who had gone too far in their campaigns by the time the party decided to step in.

    “If the varied interests are not streamlined on time and individuals are allowed to take hard line positions, it will be difficult for the party to make them reverse without causing further frictions. The former members of the House of Representatives, APC, said they were ready to support the APC in ways that could be considered fair and just by all within the party.

    “As a way of guiding the party to toe the line of equity and fairness, we suggest consideration be given to cognate experience, party loyalty and acceptability among colleagues.

  • APC: why we picked Lawan for Senate President

    After picking Senator Ahmed Lawan for Senate President, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is working out a zoning formula for other positions, the party said yesterday.

    The APC said it settled for Ahmed Lawan for Senate President after wide consultations with the President and other leaders of the party, considering all options available.

    The party also said the stand of the party not to share power in the National Assembly with the PDP was borne out of the fact that it has a clear majority and does not need the PDP to run a successful government.

    APC’s National Publicity Secretary Lanre Issa-Onilu told reporters in Abuja that having settled for Lawan as Senate President, the party was working out an acceptable zoning formula for all other positions in the Senate and House of Representatives, including Speaker.

    The formula will be announced within the shortest possible time, he added.

    Issa-Onilu said the party will not allow what happened in 2015 to repeat itself, adding that what the leadership of the Eight Senate did was treachery and not democracy. All members with ambition are expected to situate such ambition within the larger interest of the party and the nation, he said.

    Lawan’s choice was based on a wide consultation with senators-elect, governors, members of the National Working Committee, leaders of the party across the country and the President. It was presented to the senators and other stakeholders during its meeting at the Villa.

    The party, according to Isaa-Onilu, does not hope to see any formal election of principal officers when the Assembly is inaugurated as the party hopes to have concluded its plan to present to members acceptable candidates on a consensus basis.

    Issa-Onilu said the party considered allowing the zones to choose who should occupy the positions that will be zoned to them. “That is also an option because there is nothing that says that has to be the only option. It is one of the several options. You also know that before you arrive on an individual, we must have considered what zone he comes from,” he said, adding: “So, the party, in its own judgement, believes that we will not only zone, but go as far as to decide who from that zone is fit and proper as the Senate President.

    “You should know that from every zone, we have ranking members in the National Assembly who are eminently qualified to be Senate president. But there is only one vacancy to be filled because we don’t have two Senate presidents. In this case, considering other factors, the party took a decision.

    “When I say the party, not just the NWC, because there was a wide consultation across the country; the party leaders, governors and the President and so, it is not just Adams Oshiomhole or the NWC. That is the position of the ruling party.  So, the idea of taking the thing to the zones is an option which we have also considered before arriving at a particular individual from the  Northeast, only after we have zoned that position to the Northeast.”

    The APC spokesman insisted that the statement by the party’s National Chairman that it will not share positions with the PDP was not a threat as the country practices a presidential system of government where the winner takes all.

    He said: “It was not a threat. That is democracy. I have listened to PDP react to this and in their usual style, they exhibited crass ignorance. What we practise in Nigeria is the Presidential system of government and in a presidential system of government, it is winner takes all. Once you win, you take whatever you want. There is no room for power sharing.

    “We don’t need it because we don’t need them to run this government. We have enough members to run this government. In any case, when we were campaigning, we never told Nigerians that we were going to share power with any other party. We told them to entrust power on us fully because in the last four years, we have made good use of power and we will make better use of it in the next four years.

    “Nigerians graciously assented to that. It will be a betrayal of that trust to go ahead and start sharing power with a party, particularly the PDP that has been rejected by Nigerians.

    “We are smarting from the experience of the last four years, precisely what happened in 2015 when some traitors within the APC fold sold our birthright to an opposition party and some people now considered that as the normal thing. That action was not democratic. It was treachery and we thank God that Nigerians punished the people that were involved.

    “They have been rejected with many of them now on compulsory retirement from politics. That is the verdict of the people of this country for compromising basic democratic principles, which say that when you have majority, you have the trust of the people to form a government without conceding anything to the people they have rejected. If they had wanted PDP, they would have voted for them.

    “We pattern our presidential system along side that of the United States of America. When last did you see to the floor to elect Senate President. In their own case, the Speaker?  Any party that has the majority automatically has the Speaker.

    “What we had in the last one year when those traitors defected back to where they belong was an aberration and not democratic. It is an expression of lack of value and a commitment to personal aggrandisement and not a commitment to national interest. We should not think that it has now become the new normal. If we truly wants to practise democracy, we should consign such to the dustbin of history and never allow such to happen.

    “The problem we have had with party politics in this country is the fact that no ideology drives any political party. But APC is daring to be different. What that means is that we are progressives and the worldview of progressives includes the ideology that speaks to those values that are very important to the common people.

    “That is why most of the policies of this government has been pro-poor policies. All the social investment programmes were patterned along the world view of progressives.”

    Speaking on members who might have ambition, Issa-Onilu said: “You must know that party discipline is collateral to party supremacy. So when you begin to have interest other than the collective  of the party that present you for an election, then you are voluntering excusing yourself from that fold of that party.

    “So, what we expect of any member who has interest in anything is to work within the party structures to ensure he achieves his interest. But he may not succeed if that interest is at variance with the world view that this party shares. So, as we go to the next Senate, how it is done will be the way it will be done.

    “You have principal officers and all of them are determined by simple majority and because Nigerians have given us more than enough, we have enough to elect all our officers. We don’t need a single vote from PDP. In any case, we don’t envisage any election on that day because we are going to present our members to occupy these positions as the collective position of the party and all our members are 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 up and follow that candidate with the number they have. It will be an exercise in futility for them to want to share from what Nigerians have taken from them. There are positions for minority party and the APC will not contest those position because it belongs to them.”

    He said Senator Ali Ndume’s protest against the decision of the party to adopt Lawan as the sole candidate for the position of Senate presidency was his fundamental right, adding that he must have been hit badly by the news of Lawan’s adoption.

    Onilu said: “He is only expressing his fundamental rights. But those rights were taken care on that very day you subscribed to be a member of a particular political party, in this case, the APC. That day, he signed up to abide by the position of the APC. We take what happened in the last 24 hours as how badly the news hit him.

    “He is  a human being and we are also conscious of the fact that Senator Ali Ndume is a respected member of APC, a leader in this party and he knows the right thing to do and on both sides, the right thing will be done. That also includes other members who have the same issues, but at the end of the day, party supremacy will have to take precedence. The party will also to conscious not to be found wanting and not to be seen to be breaking its own rules.

    “What happened in the national Assembly when APC members kept the national budget for seven months is a betrayal of the party  on which platform they were elected and also a betrayal of the trust of the people of this country and Nigerians have passed a verdict on them.”

    Read also: Senate president: Buhari, APC leaders pacify Goje

    He said that at the consultative meeting with Senators-elect, governors, the National Working Committee and the President, it was presented to stakeholders that the party intends to present Senator Ahmed Lawan as the next Senate President, adding that since that came out, the party has not contradicted itself.

    He said the zoning arrangement for all other positions was in the works. Just as Nigerians have been informed about our preferred candidate for the Senate position is, we will also tell the world what the zoning formula is for all other positions both in the Senate and House of Representatives. That will be done very shortly.

    On the mode of selecting the leadership, he said “It is not the party that will determine whether there will be election or not, and that’s what I said but by the time we announce one person standing in with a clear majority on the floor and anybody who says  that I object to that then that person has to come up with a candidate and back it with his number.

    “So there will be only one person being put forward and what do you have, a consensus. Even if there is going to be an election, it is going to be an exercise in fulfilling all righteousness. That’s what I am referring to. We don’t envisage a situation where two APC senators will stand as candidates for a position. And that is if the APC has not done his homework. That is the essence of the majority we have and that is the practice in a proper presidential system of government.”

  • Buhari, APC chiefs endorse Lawan for Senate President

    Ahmad Lawan is the favourite for Senate President  – courtesy of his “rich legislative experience” and character –  The Nation learnt yesterday.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership and most APC governors have endorsed the Senate Leader after consultations.

    The leaders were said to have considered  Lawan’s “qualifications, prudence, accountability, loyalty and rich legislative experience” which will assist the APC government to have a robust Executive-Legislative relationship to fast-track development.

    Lawan is believed to be a “leader with much focus on accountability”.

    It was also learnt that Buhari preferred Lawan because he repeatedly told senators-elect that he will “like to leave sustainable legacies; to be remembered for something”.

    Buhari, who was emotional at a stage in his speech during a dinner with old and would-be lawmakers on Monday, regretted the frosty relationship between his administration and the leadership of the 8th National Assembly.

    Senators Danjuma Goje and Adamu Abdullahi were calm, but Senator Ali Ndume protested against what he called Lawan’s imposition.

    The search for the President of the Ninth Senate started immediately after the February 23 elections when members of the “kitchen cabinet” sought the opinion of the President on the direction to go.

    It was gathered that the President wasted no time in picking Lawan.

    Besides, every time the governors met with Buhari, his refrain was always “I will be involved in the election of principal officers in the National Assembly this time around”.

    The source said the Kitchen Cabinet members, strategists, governors, national leaders of the party and APC leadership later endorsed Lawan.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The choice of Lawan for the office was not the making of the National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. The President had zeroed in on Lawan since 2015 and he did not mince words in asking the leaders of the party, APC governors and even senators-elect to ‘leave the Senate President for me’.”

    “He spent the past few weeks to consult with some leaders of APC, governors and senators-elect to feel their pulse on Lawan. Having realised his position, some APC governors asked senators-elect from their states to be part of Lawan’s campaign.

    “When Ndume met with one of the leaders of the party, he only said: ‘Whichever direction the President is going, I will follow him. You cannot expect me to work against the interest of the President.’

    Read also: Group to APC leadership: ensure fairness in zoning National Assembly’s positions

    “Security reports on Lawan’s lifestyle revealed a commitment to accountability. He does not indulge in wasteful spending. He fits into the austere focus of Buhari.”

    Security agencies, it was learnt, rated Lawan as a loyal politician, who has been consistent in the last 20 years as a progressive.

    “The dilemma of the President was how to break the news to senators-elect without making it to look like an imposition. Again, he was not too comfortable with the intrigues on the race for Senate presidency. This was why he felt he must address it before going on break,” the source said, adding:

    “Buhari only routed his choice through the National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, to demonstrate deference to party and promote discipline in APC.”

    A source said: “The President actually respected us and named his preferences for President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    “Oshiomhole’s job was simple. He was only to convey the decision of the leader of the party to our members-elect in the National Assembly. We are trying to avoid what happened in 2015.”

     How the news was broken to senators-elect

    A senator-elect at the dinner in the Villa said: “Sitting beside the President, Oshiomhole spoke passionately and made it clear that all ranking senators-elect are eminently qualified to be the President of the Senate and other principal officers. He eulogised all ranking senators.

    “He had some difficulty in going straight to the point but he explained why it was necessary for the party to be united and have a solid leadership in the National Assembly.

    “After some rigmarole, the National Chairman said the National Working Committee had consulted with the governors elected on the platform of the party and APC leaders and reached a conclusion that Dr. Ahmad Lawan should migrate from being a Senate Leader to the President of the Senate. At the end of the day, we are presenting Lawan for consideration.

    “Oshiomhole assured that the party will ensure a win-win situation for all, especially those aspiring for Senate presidency.”

    Another Senator-elect said: “Only the President and Oshiomhole spoke at the session in the Villa; we were not allowed any input. Lawan is mandated to reconcile with everybody and allow ranking senators to choose the committees they like.”

    Asked how they knew that Buhari endorsed Lawan, a senator-elect from North-Central said: “The President was by his side and his body language suggested the choice of Lawan.

    “Not only that the President in his remarks plainly said: ‘I thank the National Chairman of our party for making a difficult job for me much easier. I hope this will go as expected.’ Nobody needed any other signal from the President.”

    The President was said to have also earned some mileage at the session with some emotional words.

    A Senator from the Northeast said: “The President emotionally told us:  ‘I want to be remembered for something; I want to leave something for Nigerians. I need your support.”

    “Immediately after the President spoke, we all rose to sing the National Anthem.”

    Although the announcement of Lawan by Oshiomhole received much applause, it was shocking to other contestants for Senate president, including Senators Danjuma Goje; Ali Ndume and Abdullahi Adamu.

    A Senator from the Northwest said: “While Goje and Adamu took it in good faith, Ndume immediately protested to the APC governors at the meeting that what Oshiomhole did was unconstitutional.

    “He made his feelings known and he was obviously bitter with the development. What pained  Goje and Adamu  was that they were not consulted. They said they would have loved to be consulted by the President and the party.”

    Lawan has been mandated by the party and most senators-elect to reach out to Goje, Adamu and Ndume.

    A ranking Senator said: “We are working on how to appease all. We said all our leaders should reach out to these respected Senators aspiring to be Senate President and give them some comfort. We believe it is not too late for the President and APC leadership to consult Goje, Adamu and Ndume.

    “For instance, we have some proposals to  make Abdullahi Adamu Senate Leader and retain Goje as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

    “It was also agreed that all ranking senators be allowed  to choose the committees they like.”

  • Buhari to senators-elect: avoid pitfalls of Eighth Senate

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) senators-elect got a piece of presidential advice Monday night. President Muhammadu Buhari cautioned them to avoid the pitfall of the outgoing Senate.

    He spoke while hosting the in-coming members of the Red Chamber and some governors to a dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The President regretted some wrong actions and decisions of the Eighth National Assembly.

    He, specifically, recalled the deliberate and persistent delay in passing the annual budget.

    Urging the in-coming Ninth National Assembly to be different, Buhari said doing things right would enable his administration achieve its target of transforming the nation.

    He said: “This is my fifth and last time of standing for an election. For that reason, I’ll like to leave something behind. And what (legacy) I want to leave cannot be successfully done without your support.

    “So, that is why I’m appealing for your support. What happened in the last Senate and so on is regrettable because I still feel it shouldn’t take seven months to pass a budget. You have a very, very serious job ahead of you.

    “What I’m appealing for is that any major decision you are going to take, please reflect more on the country than yourself as a person – what effect will it have on the country.’’

    Promising to work and partner with them after their inauguration on June 8 in promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity, the President thanked the governors and the senators-elect for their support and understanding.

    Speaking with State House reporters, APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said the event was to unite the new and old senators and to establish a new relationship between the executive and the legislature.

    Oshiomhole said: “The system talks about the separation of powers between the executive and legislature and the two must handshake for things to happen.

    Read also: Buhari, APC chiefs endorse Lawan for Senate President

    “And when you have a President who is determined to drive changes, fundamental changes that will affect our habits, our lifestyle, review the economy, deal with the security situation, fight corruption as fiercely as he is trying to do, he will need a very supportive legislative arm of government.

    “And happily, the Nigerian people have given us the number in the legislative arm of government.

    “All we have agreed today is that we will use these numbers as a functioning whole to determine the leadership of the Senate in a way that we are not going to go to the floor of the Senate and allow the opposition dictate who becomes the Senate president.

    “Because we have a comfortable majority to drive that, what we have to do is to manage that majority.’’

  • ‘Why I want to be Speaker’

    House of Representatives member Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi Constituency) is contesting for Speaker. She spoke with SUNNY NWANKO on her ambition and other partisan issues.

    Congratulations on your victory at the polls.  How were you able to survive the struggle?

    I was able to survive able to survive the struggle, first, by the grace and mercy of Almighty God, and then by the overwhelming goodwill of my people. One of the greatest things that has ever happened to me is the realization, through this election, that my people are indeed appreciative of my modest contributions to the development and welfare of my constituency. They came out in their numbers and resisted every opposition to affirm their confidence in me. My next line of action is to articulate those concerns of my people that were expressed during the electioneering period. I will then prioritize them, and seek means and ways to actualize each project.

    Before your emergence as the candidate of APC for Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi Constituency, some persons had conspired to deny you the ticket. How would you see your victory?

    Well, the idea of denying me ticket was the handiwork of a tiny clique of elite threatened by my connection to the poor masses. These rapacious few constitute a terrible minority, so their impact is limited to political party arena. Because I was confident in the electorate, I took my ticket elsewhere and won the election. There was no conspiracy by Isuikwuato indigenes. From the results, you can see that the great people of Isuikwuato voted massively for me. If there’s anything at all, it’s attributable to the parasitic political elites.

    Your area has been a stronghold of PDP. What changed the narrative?

    What changed the narrative is my philosophy of service to the people. The electorate is a lot wiser than ever before. The concept of political party dominance is gradually giving way. Individual candidates are increasingly being judged on their own merit.  At the floor of the Green Chamber, I sponsored a number of bills to protect and enhance the welfare of the poor, the weak, the vulnerable and the under-privileged persons. Some of these private bills have been passed and assented by Mr. President. For example, the Anti-Torture Act 2017 criminalizes any act of inhumanity against one another in forms of torture, cruelty, dehumanizing or degrading punishments. With this law in place, victims of extrajudicial mistreatment and rough-handling can challenge the abuse of their rights in court. Secondly, the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017 is my brainchild. Hitherto, hospitals were not obligated to attend to victims of gunshots from armed robbers or stray bullets without the Police clearance. Unfortunately, this led to avoidable deaths. But today, the new legislation has sorted out the problem. Another bill that was very dear to my heart, which by the grace of God, had been passed and assented by Mr. President, is the National Senior Citizens Centre Act 2017. The plight of our retirees, which has become a national embarrassment, due to the failings of most state governments to pay their pensions and gratuities, spurred me into sponsoring the new legislation. The Centre will help to cater for their needs and raise awareness for spirited interventions, instead of allowing them to roam the streets like beggars. Also, I sponsored the Local Government Autonomy bill, which is geared towards strengthening the local government councils for enhanced service delivery at the rural areas. The bill has been merged with the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which would require the concurrence of at least two-thirds majority of 36 States Houses of Assembly and presidential assent before it becomes a law. These laws have direct impact on the people. More so, I sponsored and co-sponsored motions on matters of public importance. The constituency represent – Isuikwuato/Umunneochi areas are highly prone to ecological challenges, largely accentuated by gully erosion. My motions have brought succour and interventions of appropriate federal government ministries and agencies, some of which are still on-going. I attracted projects across the 22 political wards in my constituency. The projects include pipe-borne water, electricity transformers, renovation and erection of modern classroom blocks, computer centers, and health care delivery equipment. For over ten years, my Foundation runs an annual week-long free medical outreach in collaboration with Living Hope Ministries, United States of America with a team of over twenty expatriate doctors of different specializations. The medical programme holds every month of June across the two LGAs of Isuikwuato and Umunneochi. Lives had been saved through the humanitarian gesture. For me, the greatest challenge has been to lift many people out of poverty bracket. Many indigent students have benefited from my scholarship endowments; modern bungalows were built for many homeless widows; and through healthy working relationships with colleagues and a number of federal institutions, I attracted hundreds of employments for our young graduates, while those who could not afford tertiary education were trained on special skills and equipped for economic sustenance. Above all, I maintain constant touch with my people through a rotatory monthly interactive meetings within my constituency, organized by the leadership of Nkeiruka Onyejeocha Foundation. More importantly, I am active and regular in plenary and committee sessions at the National Assembly. I am not an absentee lawmaker. I receive calls from serious-minded Nigerians from all walks of life with commendations for my robust engagements and contributions on national issues. As the Chairman of Committee on Aviation, my colleagues and I stepped up matching oversight responsibilities, which are evident in the massive upgrade of our airports to global standards, and reduction in civil air accidents, which hitherto were largely attributed to lackluster and poor regulatory mechanisms. And to the glory of God, my reputation has remained intact. I have never been indicted on account of financial infractions or dereliction of duty. I believe that good name is better that riches, and that it is God who gives power to get wealth. So, I believe that these modest efforts contributed to the groundswell of solidarity, which metamorphosed to my return back to Abuja for the fourth term.

    Read also: 9th Assembly: Onyejeocha declares for Speaker

    What does your re-election mean it to you?

    My re-election is a re-affirmation of my commitment to the general good of the great people of Isuikwuato and Umunneochi Local Government Areas. I shall continue to be a beacon of hope to them at all times. 

     Abia North Senatorial District can now boast of three National Assembly members. What should the people of the zone be expecting?

    With a Senator and two APC Representatives from Abia North Senatorial District, we will strive to translate them to dividends to our people vis-à-vis federal presence.

    What does the 85,000 votes for the President in Abia during the national assembly and presidential elections mean for the average Abia and southeasterners? What should Abia State expect from the APC government at the centre?

    The 85,000 votes for President Buhari from Abia is a manifest evidence of his acceptance by the people of Abia State. It is our way of showing appreciation for his policies and projects that have impacted the people positively. I believe that the APC Government at the Centre will do much more for Abia State and Ndigbo in general, and attend to concerns raised by a section of the community about balance in appointive positions. My people are agitating to be given a greater sense of belonging.  Having a Speaker of the House of Representatives from the South-East will definitely help to assuage the feelings of exclusion.  For the 9th Assembly, I believe that my experience would count. It is not a fluke that I am privileged to be the highest ranking APC House of Reps Member from the south-east, the homestead of PDP. It gives me a vantage position to play strategic roles in the 9th Assembly. I am upbeat that I would enjoy the confidence of my colleagues and our political party when the new leadership would be constituted. We need to support and collaborate with Mr. President in his ‘next level’ agenda. We need to forge a healthy synergy with the executive so that we won’t have repeated cases of turned down bills from the presidency. We need maturity and less politicking to move our nation out of doldrums. Nigeria is a great country and all hands must be on deck to make it work.

    Many are calling on the governorship candidate of your party to allow the sleeping dog lie by allowing the governor-elect concentrate and work for the next four years. Your take?

    The decision to go to the Tribunal or not by the gubernatorial candidate of APC belongs to the Party and the candidate. I believe that they will consider the inherent factors, and take the best decision for Abians and the Party.

     

  • Lawmaker lifts students

    A member representing Epe Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Hon. Tasir Olawale Raji, has given out  West African Examination Council (WAEC) forms to students in secondary schools in his constituency.

    The distribution took place in Epe.

    He appreciated parents and guardians for their efforts on the students, saying he was ready to support the future of the students.

    Raji told the students to be up and doing to become great leaders in years to come.

    In addition, he promised to deliver more than these in the office, to cater for all children, youths, adults and non-indigenes in his constituency.

    Read also: We are indebted to the electorate, says lawmaker

    He promised that the royal fathers will be accorded their due honour and placed in their normal position, adding they would be elevated more than before in this new dispensation.

    He called on all and sundry to support the incoming governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, so that Lagos State will be the best among all other states in the country.

    He commiserated with the families of the collapsed building in Lagos recently, saying: “God will give them the fortitude to bear the loss.”

  • Our members can vie for positions in N/Assembly, says PDP

    The national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Tuesday said that its federal lawmakers elected into the Ninth National Assembly can contest for leadership positions in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    A statement by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said despite their minority status, opposition lawmakers are constitutionally eligible to seek election into any of the presiding positions in the bicameral legislature.

    Specifically, the main opposition party stated that the positions of President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker are not the exclusive preserves of any political party, but a constitutional right of every elected lawmaker in both chambers.

    Presently, the PDP has about 42 senators elect in the upper chamber while the All Progressives Congress (APC) has 65 so far. The Young Progressive Party (YPP) has one. In the lower chamber, APC has about 222, against PDP’s 110 with about 10 seats shared among a number of fringe parties.

    The PDP said, “It is therefore laughable and amounts to empty grandstanding and self-delusion for President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, to posture as if the presiding offices and committee chairmanship in the National Assembly are exclusive rights of the APC.

    “President Buhari and Oshiomhole should wake up to the fact that the National Assembly belongs to no political party but to all Nigerians, who exercise their control through their elected representatives.

    “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.

    “The PDP, therefore, does not only have a constitutional say in the process of the emergence of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly, but will, as a matter of constitutional right, field candidates into presiding offices of both chambers, if need be.

    “The PDP wishes to remind President Buhari and Oshiomhole that the APC had in the past benefited from the provisions of section 50, with the defection of then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal from the PDP to the APC, in October 2014, without relinquishing the speakership of the House to the PDP; a development that was applauded by President Buhari, as then opposition leader as well as the APC, through its then National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

    “In fact, the former Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, echoed the Constitutional provision that when he said the constitution requires only that the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be elected by members of that House from among themselves”.

    “Moreover, in June 2015, Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange and Hon. Peter Azi, both of APC, were elected Speakers of Benue and Plateau State Houses of Assembly respectively, though their party, the APC, was minority in both Houses”.

    The PDP insisted that the only party offices in the legislature are the Majority and Minority Leaders and Deputy Leaders as well as Majority and Minority Whips and Deputy Whips.

    The party cautioned President Buhari, Oshiomhole and the APC to respect the independence of the legislature, end their imposition plot and to stop sowing seeds of discord among the lawmakers, saying such is directly against the overall national interest.

  • Buhari moves to prevent National Assembly hijack

    All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders yesterday moved to prevent the “hijack” of the new National Assembly leadership. They met with would-be lawmakers.

    President Muhammadu Buhari dined with serving APC senators and senators-elect at the New Banquet Hall of the  State House.

    The meeting came on the heels of a similar parley between APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and House of Representatives members-elect at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

    At the President’s meeting with the lawmakers were APC leaders, including Lagos, Plateau, Kogi, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara and Osun governors.

    Oshiomhole and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, were also present.

    Although, details of the meeting were unknown,  it is believed to be connected with zoning and selection of the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly.

    Unlike in 2015 when the leadership was hijacked by senators, against the wish of the APC leadership, the ruling party is determined to ensure that its wishes prevail now.

    The dinner, which started around 8pm, was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

    Senators Ahmed Lawan, Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje have indicated interest in Senate President.

    Also yesterday, Oshiomhole ruled out the possibility of the ruling party sharing legislative powers with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Giving an insight into what to expect from the Ninth National Assembly, the party chair insisted that the mistakes of 2015 would not recur.

    The leadership of the National Assembly was constituted on June 8, 2015 against the directive of the party. Those listed for principal offices were meeting at the State House when the lawmakers elected Dr. Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP Deputy Senate President.

    Addressing the Representatives-elect, Oshiomhole said the APC was not prepared to share principal offices and headship of critical committees with the PDP, except for positions reserved for minority members.

    Oshiomhole told the lawmakers that Nigerians have reposed confidence in the APC, giving it overwhelming majority in the House and will use the numerical strength to its advantage.

    According to him, Nigerians have punished 15 out of the 16 senators who defected the APC by not re-electing them.

    He urged the members to collaborate with the government on the implementation of the party’s programmes.

    He said: “The first is the challenge of ensuring that this time around we ensure that we have a leadership of the National Assembly that shares the vision of the executive. Although we speak to separation of power, but there is only one government and unless the various arms pursue the same agenda, it is difficult for the executive to realise its purpose because legislative backing is often required for the executive actions.

    “So, I will expect that you bear in mind that we are one family joined together as shown in our broom, with a share commitment to bail Nigeria out of the condition in which we found it in 2015.

    “And that you have the numbers and we will use those numbers to ensure that we have a leadership that commands the trust and the respect of all the members of the House of Representatives.

    “There will be contestation; that is why we are in democracy, but after the contestation and debate, we have to agree, and once you have agreed, you move forward.

    “We have the numbers to produce the Speaker and we will produce the Speaker who must be a member of the APC. We have the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker and we will use the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker, who must be a member of the APC. We have the number and we must use the number to elect a House Leader who must be a member of APC.

    Read also: Buhari receives minimum wage report

    “We have the numbers and we will use the numbers to produce a Chief Whip and a Deputy Whip who must be members of the APC. I think the only position that we are not interested in is the Minority Leader. Let it remain minor in the hands of the minors in the opposition.

    “We will not share power in the House of the Representatives and the leadership must ensure that critical committees that drive government are chaired only by APC members. If the Nigeria people wanted them to be chairmen of committees they would have voted for them.

    “So, all the chairmen of committees, except the one that is statutorily reserved for opposition, which is Public Account, they can have that. So, we would not do the kind of thing that happened the last time in which some APC members as members of the leading party became distance spectators in the management of committees, when PDP had majority of the strategic committees in the House, that will not happen in the next Assembly.

    “We are aware that they believe they can use the divide and rule by sponsoring many people within our ranks to contest for which of the position so that they then become the king maker and in return the person will offer them some chairmanship seats.

    “Honourable members and comrades, I’m sure you are not going to do business with them. We will see them as partners in progress but in democracy, the rule is, and it is a universal rule, majority must have their way but minorities must be allowed to have their say.

    “So, the PDP and other minority can have their say, but working together APC must have its way in legislative agenda, in the leadership of the National Assembly and the leadership of the committees in the National Assembly. I thought we should make this thing clear so that those who may not understand what is happening don’t fall into the trap.”

    Calling on the would-be lawmakers not to allow anybody to divide them, Oshiomhole said his leadership will consult with President Muhammadu Buhari and all the leaders of the APC.

    “We will work out a sensible zoning formula that seeks to carry everybody along and give people chances to demonstrate their capacities and their capabilities. We are working on that,” he said, adding:

    “Somebody told me the opposition party people are already doing something, raising money to bribe people and I said, ‘no, we are anti-corruption, we cannot be corrupted’.

    “If they bring N1 billion to each member, a PDP person will not be Speaker, a PDP person will not be Deputy Speaker, a PDP person will not be Whip, a PDP person will not be Leader and a PDP person will not take any of the committees that are meant for the ruling party. We are determined to achieve that and be rest assured that the party will stand by you.”

    Congratulating the in-coming lawmakers on the electoral victory, the party chairman said: “We are proud that Nigerians in your various constituencies have reposed confidence in the APC.

    “I was looking at the number this morning and I realised that at the level of the House of Representatives, the Nigerian people gave the APC a resounding vote of confidence.

    “Before the election, we had about 190 members. The Nigerian people elected and re-elected 223 members of the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC. This has given us overwhelming majority, almost two-third that we need even if we want to amend the constitution.

    “I like to, on your behalf, thank the Nigerian people for reposing confidence in our party. I would like to say that by the same token, the Nigerian people has reposed less confidence in the major opposition who went into the election with more members and returned with 111 members.

    “It is easy the first time to ask people to give you the benefit of the doubt. But when you have occupied an office for four years, and the people choose to favour your party to the extent to which they have favoured the APC, it is a thing of joy. We are grateful to the Nigerian people for giving us the number we need to carry through our legislative agenda.”

    Alluding to party supremacy, Oshiomhole said: “For us to be able to enjoy our numerical strength in the House of Representatives, we must recognise that we were elected on a party platform.

    “Over the last couple of weeks, I have been invited by INEC to forward names rising from court decisions to the effect that APC has won in a certain constituency even when there is dispute about who is the candidate.

    “I am sure that when you went to vote, you did not see the portrait of any candidate, but the logo of the APC, which is the broom. Something unique about the broom is that when you pick a stick of broom, you can easily break it. But when it is together, as it is in our logo, it will be difficult to break.

    “The essence of that broom is to remind us that when you are together, we share ideas together, make decisions on the basis of inclusion and we carry everybody along, we encourage debate, contestations and agree that at the end of the day, agreement reached are binding on all, then we will be as strong as the broom in our logo.

    “We have called this meeting to remind us that we have a huge task ahead of us. Nigerians have voted the way they did and they expect new vigour and have injected new blood into the House of Representatives and I am sure that you have all come determined to make a difference in the way the National Assembly is run.

    “As people who are active, you are very familiar with the issues that bogged down the National Assembly between 2015 and 2019, arising from a unique concussion and I pray that this time around, we have all learnt a lesson from our immediate past and allow the positive lessons of our immediate past to shape our future.

    “You have been elected at a very challenging time to provide legislative backing for APC agenda and manifesto. Our President, who has been reelected, reminded us that the three critical issues on which we canvassed for votes in 2015 are still valid even now in 2019.

    “The President is doing everything possible to turn the economy around and to ensure that we work and create job led growth and not jobless growth where we celebrate abstract statistics that does not reflect the quality of life of the Nigerian people.

    “We must work hard to rebuild the economy, strengthen the private sector, create job, make the business environment friendly, and expand the capacity of our current investors.

    “If Nigerians consume what we produce, our economy will grow in double digits and that growth will reflect on the quality of lives of our people. What has been missing has been leadership and that President Buhari has brought.

    “We need to sustain and deepen these policies and I sure that some aspects of it will require legislative intervention. We will need to reinvent the manufacturing sector. If we have sensible and sustainable industrial policy in place with appropriate legislative backing to give people the confidence of policy stability, even to cloth half of our population will generate more than ten million jobs in the textile sector alone.

    “There is no reason while Michelin should not return to Nigeria, especially if we have sensible industrial and trade policy that discourages the importation of these items which we were producing before. All these need a collaborative National Assembly.

    “We need to pursue sensible monetary policies and should not price the funds out of the reach of the ordinary person. There must be coherence in all our policies so that we can witness sustainable growth and get our young people busy.

    “President Buhari has a rare opportunity to now think of what legacies to leave behind for Nigerians. He has spoken about corruption and we all know that it is one factor that has destroyed the country.

    “What we owe the Nigerian people is to create an environment for people to work and earn a living and for investors to have decent results for their investment and this also requires legislative action.”