Tobias Sylvester
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has ruled out the possibility of the ruling party sharing legislative powers with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a bid to prevent the “hijack” of the new National Assembly leadership.
While addressing the newly elected APC lawmaker during dinner with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Monday night, 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 an 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 from the APC by not re-electing them.
He urged the members to collaborate with the government on the implementation of the party’s programmes.
Calling on the would-be lawmakers not to allow anybody to divide them, Oshiomhole said his leadership will consult with President 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.”
