*Insists party still consulting
By Oguwuike Nnadi
As the race for the Principal Officers of the 10th National assembly hots up, National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdulahi Adamu, has advised stakeholders of the party to stop addressing Hon. Tajudeen Abass as Speaker of the 10th Assembly, saying he has not been proclaimed yet.
The former governor of Nasarawa state, who gave the advice when he played host to a 30-member House of Representatives – elect, led by Honourable Tajudeen Abass, who visited the APC national secretariat on Tuesday, insisted that the ruling party is still consulting on the contentious offices, adding that the the only option for anybody to emerge Speaker is to contest for the election upon the inauguration of the assembly in June
It would be recalled that the Adamu led NWC of the ruling party had in a statement issued after its meeting last month, ratified the endorsement of senator Godswill Akpabio and Honourable Tajudeen Abbas as senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 10th National Assembly that would be inaugurated early June
The endorsement and ratification was however greeted by many criticism and condemnations, leading to Adamu and his NWC’s new position of further consultations away from their earlier position.
The former Nasarawa State governor has since assured every delegation of the NASS Principal Officers candidates that the party will do further consultations before it takes a final position of the offices
Adamu has severally maintained the NWC’s new position, when he hosted some aggrieved aspirants, led by former governors of Zamfara and Abia states, Abdulaziz Yari and Orji Kalu, when they led a team of their supporters to protest at the APC secretariat and meet with the party’s NWC
Similar assurance was given to the delegation of aggrieved House of Representatives aspirants, led by Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase, Aliyu Betara and others on a similar visit
Adamu also stated same, when he received the president – elects preferred candidate, Godswill Akpabio and his team last week
Speaking when he hosted Abbas and the 30 Reps – elect members, Adamu said, “I want to make one correction so that we will not be misrepresented. A quite number of you have referred to Hon. Abbas at the Speaker. Please, please he is one of the aspirants. He will become a Speaker on the day of proclamation … the laws guiding that office are very clear, he will earn that on the day of proclamation by the president and commander in chief of the 10th National Assembly.
“The Clerk to the National Assembly will conduct election, there is no option than the election. When he comes out of that election and they raise his hand and when he is sworn in as the speaker, that nomenclature becomes most appropriate. Wait, continue doing your good work.”
Reacting to the NWC’s earlier endorsement of the preferred candidates of the president – elect, Adamu noted that “it has become very clear in our declaration that there is need for further and better consultations…so that we can take as much as we can, to massage political egos so that we end up with what we want with National Assembly leadership in both Chambers.
“We have received all the other aspirants for the president of the Senate and the speakership of the House of Representatives. I on behalf of my colleagues wish you the best of luck.”
Earlier in his remarks, Abbas expressed the appreciation of his team and supporters on the role the NWC played in his emergence as the preferred candidate of the party for the position, adding that he and his colleagues will do everything to protect the interest of the party, the government and to protect the interest of the Nigerian populace.
“You can take it to the market Mr. Chairman that we are at this together
“I also want to urge you as our leader – the leader of all the contestants both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives to call all our co-contestants to the table, we are more than willing to sit down and agree on mutual basis, what we need to do to move the National Assembly forward.
“We want your leadership to be in the driving seat, we will cooperate, we will do everything humanly possible to make sure that will operate as one from June 13,” he charged
When asked after the meeting with the NWC on rumours that
the NWC may review the already-announced consensus arrangement, Abass said, “To the best of our knowledge, the party is resolute on its earlier decision.To sustain the announcement made earlier, we are not aware there’s any change of decision concerning the candidature of my humble self and my colleague from the House of Reps and my colleague in the Senate. There has not been anything like that to the best of our knowledge.
“The issue of reaching out, I can assure you we are doing the best we can. Just a week ago if you have observed three aspirants, one of them is here with us, have come out publicly to declare their support on us. As we are talking today, I am engaging not less than three other contestants. We are talking and hopeful that at the end of the day we will be able to reach a precise destination.”
