Some APC aspirants for the position of the Speaker in the House of
Representatives have faulted the party’s National Chairman, Adams
Oshiomhole, for declaring that the PDP would not get any leadership
position or chairmanship of a major committee in the coming 9th National
Assembly.
Speaking with journalists on Thursday, an APC lawmaker-elect from
South-West, Olusegun Odebunmi, warned the leadership of the ruling party
against dismissing the PDP lawmakers.
Odebunmi said, “Many people outside don’t know how things work in the
National Assembly. Every member has a role and a stake when we are
talking of the leadership. We (APC) are lucky to be the majority but we
will still move ahead to lobby our members (in the opposition) towards
our direction, otherwise we cannot have a peaceful house.”
Another APC lawmaker, who is one of the speakership aspirants from the
North-East, told The Punch that while Oshiomhole was emphasising the
quantity of those in the majority (APC), he had ignored the quality of
those in the minority (PDP).
The ranking APC lawmaker said he would ignore Oshiomhole’s threats and work with those in the opposition if he became speaker.
“Our problem is that the APC’s majority is
about quantity, not quality. If you go to the floor of the House – go
and observe this, it is the PDP people who are always attending plenary;
some of our people will just come and sign, and go away to attend to
their private businesses,” he said.
No fewer than 17 members of the House are contesting leadership positions in the coming 9th NASS.
