Lawmakers of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) and their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
counterparts in the House of Representatives are working to forge an
understanding before the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly.
This was made known by the Deputy
Minority Leader and spokesman of the PDP caucus in the House of
Representatives, Chukwuka Onyema, who briefed reporters at the end of a meeting
between the two caucuses yesterday in Abuja.
However, Onyema insisted that
there was “no deal yet.”
He said the PDP lawmakers used
the opportunity of the meeting to ask all aspirants for Speaker of the 9th
House to outline their manifestos with the purpose of striking a deal on how
sensitive positions would be shared by the two main political parties.
The leadership slots, according
to him, excluded the offices of speaker, deputy speaker and House Leader.
However, some of the sensitive
committee chairmanships are to be ceded to the PDP by the APC in line with the
proposed agreement.
He said: “Everybody came to tell
us why they want to be speaker; what they are going to do to improve the House
and the relationship among the members. That’s the whole essence of the
meeting.
“All the candidates who appeared
before us said they know they can’t run the House without the minority parties,
especially the PDP, against a statement credited to someone to that effect.
“We don’t have any preferred
candidate yet; we are going to sit as a caucus, deliberate on it, analyse it
and then come up with our position. I wish we could strike a deal, but no deal
yet.”
The PDP caucus leader dispelled
rumours that PDP governors had settled for a particular candidate, arguing that
the onus of choosing a speaker lays not with governors but with the lawmakers
who would vote.
Among the APC speakership
aspirants who appeared before the PDP caucus at the meeting and outlined their
policies if elected were Umaru Bago (APC, Niger), Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (APC,
Abia) and the incumbent House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos).
This meeting appeared to be a
clear reversal on the earlier stated position of the ruling APC with regards to
sharing positions in the 9th Assembly.
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