House Leadership: Gbajabiamila Group Flaws Dogara's Letter To APC

BEVERLY HILLS, July 20, (THEWILL) – As the crisis in the House of Representatives over the appointment of Principal Officers continues, the Gbajabiamila Group has faulted the nine-page letter written by the Speaker of the House , Hon. Yakubu Dogara, to the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, describing Dogara's submissions as lacking in analytical and interpretative depth, especially in its citations of the Constitution and House rules.

Quoting copiously from the Constitution, the Gbajabiamila group, Monday, in its own letter to the APC chairman, signed by Hon. Nasiru Sani Zangon-Daura, stated that the portion of the Constitution referring to federal character principle is restricted to executive positions and not legislative ones as claimed by Dogara.

The Gbajabiamila group, operating under the aegis of APC Loyalists Group, also noted that the Speaker’s reference to certain House Rules are misleading, saying he fails to take cognisance of a more appropriate section of the same document which harps on seniority as the guideline for filling slots of principal officers in the House.

The group, while reiterating its unflinching support for party loyalty, said: “History beckons and posterity will always judge our conduct and contributions to the development of our democracy. A political party is an institution and its supremacy is universal and not a Nigerian coinage.

“It is on record that the Speaker defied the party going into the elections and he is about to repeat such defiance. The party must assert its authority over all its members, the Speaker inclusive, as none of us came to the House as independent candidates and we subscribed expressly and impliedly to the party’s supremacy in political activities.”

The group said it would not succumb to the antecedents of the Speaker, which are designed to undermine the party.

“This Party has bent over backwards for the Speaker and enough is enough. He refused zoning before the elections and because of his refusal, the party decided to conduct primaries and allow the members themselves to decide, he refused that too and struck a deal with the opposition.

“It seems for the Speaker who won his election by eight marginal votes, it is his way or the high way. We cannot adopt this winner takes it all approach as it will be unfair to Nigerians. Our party campaigned against the PDP's impunity in all its ramifications and so did the Nigerian people and we cannot be seen to be condoning the very thing we condemned the PDP for. That smacks of hypocrisy.”