Mr Adams Oshiomhole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman On Monday said the party is interested in all leadership positions in the National Assembly, except that of minority leader.
Oshiomhole stated this on Monday in Abuja at a meeting with the party`s national leadership and its newly-elected and returning House of Representative members, stressing that in unity, they could achieve much more.
He said that in the 8th Assembly, some APC members became “distant spectators“ in the management of committees, while PDP members had strategic positions in the management of committees in the house.
He added that the APC was, however, aware that the opposition PDP was already sponsoring some of its members to contest key committee positions, with a view to getting some chairmanship seats in return.
He advised the elected representative not to do business with PDP members, but to see them as partners in progress.
He said, “I will expect that you all bear in mind that we are one family bounded together as shown in the broom symbol of our party, with a shared commitment to bail Nigeria out of the condition we found it in 2015.
“You have the numbers, and we will use those numbers to ensure that we have a leadership that commands the thrust and the respect of members of the House of Representatives.
“There will be contestation, that is why we are in a democracy, but after the contestation and debate, there has to be agreement, and once we have agreed, we 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 number and we will use it to produce the Deputy speaker, House Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip, who must all be members of the APC.
“The only position we are not interested in, is that of the Minority Leader, let it remain in the hands of the minors and in the opposition.
“The PDP and other minorities can have their say, but working together, APC must have its way in the legislative agenda and in the leadership of the National Assembly and the leadership of its committees.
“Please don’t allow anybody to divide you, we will carry out extensive consultations with President Muhammadu Buhari and all the leaders of our party, “ NAN quoted him as saying.
He added that the consultations would reflect the reality of the nation’a politics as reflected in the Constitution which recognises the country`s geo-political zones.
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