The Progressives Foundational Movement (PFM) has called on the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to succumb to pressures in the endorsement of Dr Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 10th Assembly.
National Coordinator of the group, Aganaba Johnson, in a statement, Sunday in Abuja, said Abbas was a member of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), one of the political parties that merged to form the APC.
According to Johnson, “It will amount to injustice against the defunct CPC members in the APC if other defunct parties like Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that produced the president-elect, the defunct All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP) produced vice president-elect and the New Peoples Democratic Party (NPDP) is allowed to produce the Senate President,” if Abbas is denied the opportunity to represent the defunct CPC as Speaker House of Representatives.
He extolled the leadership qualities of Hon. Abbas, stating that apart from his academic excellence and a proven track record of leadership in public service and legislative excellence, the lawmaker has an enviable record of sponsoring 20 assented out of his 78 bills passed by the 9th Assembly.
Johnson said the leadership of APC considered the right temperament for all the aspirants, their integrity, and their public service experiences before the endorsement of Hon. Abbas.
He commended the president-elect and Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led NWC, for “a well thought out decision that would be in the best interest of the country.
“In the history of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas has the highest bills of 78 in the 9th Assembly; he has the third highest bills of 43 in the 8th Assembly and 20 of these bills have been assented to.
“The country must endeavour to sustain the successes recorded in the outgoing 9th Assembly whereby there are tangible achievements due to the cordial relationship between the executive and legislative arms.
“We don’t want the situation capable of igniting confusion and turbulence in the parliament, which may ultimately affect the cordial environment that the legislature needs to function.
“It is axiomatic that we are in a democracy and people are free to ventilate and express themselves but we must exercise this right with some measure of caution and responsibility so as not to heat the system.
“In order to develop our legislative democracy, the lawmakers must avoid negative and offensive opposition, which is averse to development and prone to avoidable conflicts between the executive and the legislature.
“This time, therefore, calls for building bridges across political divides and not burning bridges for personal or political reasons. Nigeria should be placed above any other interest.”
Johnson urged Tinubu and the party leadership to resist all forms of pressure and blackmail by allowing supremacy of the party decided to stand, and called on other Speakership aspirants “Not to rock the boat but work for the success of the party and larger interest of the nation.
“We appealed to all the aggrieved aspirants to the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives to accept the endorsement of Hon. Tajudeen Abass as the next Speaker as an act of God.
“There is no need to gang up against the anointed candidates and the party because the opposition is waiting in the wings to exploit your differences. Please, do not throw the party into disarray because of leadership positions.”
He recalled that the same party leadership had given some of the aggrieved aspirants the opportunity to hold one position or the other in the past, adding that “Ahmed Idris Wase is the Deputy Speaker today courtesy of the party’s benevolence ditto Rt. Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa as leader of the House and Rt. Hon. Muktar Betara who chairs the Committee of Appropriation. The party gave all of you the platform on which you contested for elections, so this is payback time.
“We have a vested interest in the success of the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration starting from May 29 this year and this can only be achieved if the ongoing cordial relationship between the executive and legislative arms is sustained.
“Never again should we return to the era of acrimonious relationship between the executive and legislative arms experienced during the tenure of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and even during the first tenure of our outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 -2019.”
