It would be the first time that the president would meet with both camps of the House since the June 9 election that Speaker Yakubu Dogara beat party favourite, Femi Gbajabiamila, in the leadership contest. Confirming the meeting, the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the meeting will hold at the New Banquet Hall of the presidential villa at 5:00 pm.
Meanwhile, members of the Gbajabiamila-led Loyalist Group in the House, yesterday, vowed to press on with their demand for enthronement in the four principal officers’ positions.
At a press conference in Abuja, the group dismissed as inconsequential defections from the group to the Speaker Yakubu Dogara group vowing that they remained unflinching in their demands.
The unity of the Gbajabiamila group was, however, questioned following the absence of some of the arrowheads of the camp including Gbajabiamila, Mohammed Monguno, Pally Iriase and Ado Doguwa among others. Doguwa’s fidelity to the group became an issue following claims last night that majority of the APC members have resolved to project him for the position of House Leader against the aspiration of Gbajabiamila for the position.
Accusing the speaker of a policy of divide and rule, members of the Gbajabiamila faction at a press conference expressed regrets that the speaker was not prepared for peace despite his claims.
A statement read by Nasiru Daura representing Zango/Baure Federal Constituency of Katsina State on the platform of the APC said: “We had hoped that with a difference of just eight votes between Dogara and Femi, Speaker Dogara would have realised the need to cultivate a united House of Representatives.”
Noting what it claimed as efforts to reduce their strength through juicy offers to their members, he said: “We are, however, aware of the trojan offers of Party Principal Officers positions being made to individuals in our group in their individual capacities in order to lure them from our group. We hereby restate for the avoidance of any doubt that this struggle is not about Femi Gbajabiamila, Yakubu Dogara, Alhasan Ado Doguwa, MT Monguno or Pally Iriase, this is about being loyal and committed to party’s manifesto which amongst others includes the Fight against corruption by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This is all about preventing the PDP from hijacking the National Assembly from our party and imposing its corrupted will on President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda for change. We hereby assure all those that voted for the APC, that we will never betray the trust you reposed in us as your elected Representatives in the House, due to our selfish interest. We wish to inform you that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back and this is part of the debilitating measures already at work.
Debilitating measures
“To the Speaker Dogara Group and their PDP allies we are aware of your attempt to deny entry into the House of Representative Chambers to members of the Loyalist Group especially the likes Hon. Aliyu Madaki, Hon. Rufai Chanchangi, Hon. Philip Shaibu, Hon. Mohamed Soba, Hon. Isa Aliyu Zuru, Hon. Ahmed Babba Kaita, Hon. Ismaila Sulaiman, Hon. James Faleke, Hon. Yusuf Ikara, Hon. Abdullahi Salame and Hon. Abubakar Chika.
“We strongly warn Speaker Dogara that we will not take any breach of our members’ privileges lightly and we will hold you, Speaker Dogara personally responsible. Honour is earned through honourable actions. A word is enough for the wise! However, we also hereby sincerely accept the apology made by Hon. MT Monguno for being misled into attending press conference organized by Speaker Dogara’s group yesterday.
“We have therefore, resolved that enough is enough of the shenanigans of the PDP and Speaker Dogara group. We hereby remind Speaker Dogara group and his PDP allies in the House that we have fought the PDP and already chased them out of government because we were willing to pay the price to ensure that Nigerians are not short-changed. And we are ready to do it again now so that the Change Agenda prevails in the House of Representatives.
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