10th NASS: APC Movement defends endorsement of Abbas as Speaker

…urges Tinubu, NWC to resist pressure

By Tom Okpe

As the race for the Speakership of the House of Representatives grows, a prominent group of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, (APC) Progressives Foundational Movement (PFM) has thrown it’s weights behind the choice of Dr Tajudeen Abass to oversee proceedings of the lower Legislative Chamber in the 10th Assembly.

The group said Rep Abbas Tajudeen, despite his academic excellence and proven track record of leadership in public service and legislative excellence, the lawmaker was a member of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC) one of the political parties that merged to form the APC.

In a statement released on Sunday in Abuja by the group’s national coordinator, Barrister Aganaba Johnson, said; “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, Tajudeen Abbas should be given opportunity to represent the defunct CPC as Speaker, House of Representatives.”

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According to the statement, Abbas is productive and enviable record of sponsoring 20 assented out of his 78 Bills in the 9th Assembly, singled him out conspicuously among all contenders for the position of the 10th Assembly Speaker.

Barrister Johnson also said the leadership of APC, considered the right temperament of all aspirants, their integrity and public service experiences before endorsement of the Kaduna born politician.

While commending the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Abdullahi Adamu led NWC, the group added that the choice of Abbas “is a well thought out decision that would be in the best interest of the country.”

Johnson said: “In the history of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rep Abbas has the highest Bills of 78 in the 9th Assembly, he has the 3rd 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 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 up 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,” the national coordinator said.

The statement also urged the President-elect and the party leadership to resist all forms of pressure and blackmail by allowing supremacy of the party decision to stand, tasking other Speakership aspirants, “Not to rock the boat but work for success of the party and larger interest of the nation,” saying:

“We appealed to all aggrieved aspirants to the position of Speaker to accept the endorsement of 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.”

The statement further added that the same party leadership had given some of the aggrieved aspirants one position or the other in the past.

“Rep Ahmed Idris Wase is the current Deputy Speaker, courtesy of the party’s benevolence, Rep Alhassan Ado Doguwa is leader of the House and Rep Muktar Betara chairs the Committee of Appropriation.

“The party gave all of you the platform, which you contested for elections, so, this is payback time.

“We have vested interest in the success of the President-elect, 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,” the statement added.