NASS frustrating governance, Buhari laments

.Drums support for Tinubu’s reconciliation committee

.Holds non-elective convention in June

President Muhammadu Buhari has raised the alarm over the frustrating attitude of the National Assembly, saying that it is regrettable that the lawmakers have remained a clog in the progress of the administration.

He, however, stated that the Federal Government is doing everything possible to improve the relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government.

Buhari disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the third National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s National Headquarters.

The president also asked all the members of APC to support the party’s reconciliation committee led by the party leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

In his opening address at the event, Buhari paid tribute to all the organs of the party for expanding the vision of the party to all frontiers.

He recounted how the party has been winning elections in most of the states and the impressive result that it recorded in Anambra State, calling on all members of the party to sustain the tempo.

The president further said: “We must acknowledge that the face of government has not met the expectations of many within our party. But few of us know or appreciated the depth of the wrath when we took office and that we spent the last two years bringing the country out of the mess we met it”.

He was quick to point out that the National Assembly has slowed down governance but assured that the bottleneck will be resolved.

He said: “Furthermore, the stand off between the executive and the National Assembly slowed down the process of government. We are working hard to resolve the differences so that the country can move forward.”

He called on all organs of the party to cooperate with the reconciliation committee led by Tinubu to put at rest all issues and misunderstandings that are not in tandem with the spirit of the party.

“Accordingly, I implore all members of the party to give the Asiwaju committee full cooperation to resolve existing differences among our members in the states affected. It is perhaps inevitable that there will be differences of opinion within the party.

“If we resolve them, then we can build a genuinely Democratic Party. But we must not lose sight of our common purpose as a party to break the mule of Nigerian politics and takes the country to new heights. Therefore, we have asked Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead this process of restoring order, manage differences and strengthen the party,” Buhari stated.

The President added that the present administration has increased the foreign reserve, tackled insecurity and has repositioned the economy to profitability.

“I am happy to report that slowly and steadily, we have managed to stabilise the country and redirect the ship of state. We have restored prudence to the management of resources and confidence in Nigeria has been restored.

“On February 23, Nigeria floated a 12 year and 20 year Eurobond in the international market which were both over subscribed. The 12 year bond was, within days, over subscribed by 332 percent, while the 20 year bond was oversubscribed by 372 percent. We have stabilised the naira and increased our foreign reserve from $20 billion to &40 billion. Inflation rate is down. With considerably less resources available to the country, we have improved all the indices towards a stronger economy.”

Buhari said that the wrath met by the present administration militated against the administration satisfying the aspirations of Nigerians who voted the party into power.

The President also called on the National Working Committee (NCW) to begin arrangements for primaries at the wards, local government, and states soon.

Buhari said: “I urge all members to take account of the fact that APC has a history of conducting free and fair primaries whenever consensus about any position is not reached. Regardless of the outcome of the primary processes which is imperative, we should all work together to ensure victory for our party.

Also in his remarks, National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, told members of the party to work together towards the victory of the party. He pleaded with party members to do everything possible to minimise stress and crisis within the party and to remain in fighting shape ahead of 2019.

He re-emphasised the support of the party’s´s leadership to the Tinubu reconciliation team.

Some of the Governors present at the meeting were Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Sani Bello (Niger). Others are Kashim Shettima (Borno). Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) and Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna).

Meanwhile, the the National Executive Council (NEC) of the APC has approved one year tenure elongation to the present National and State Working Committees of the party.

The party took the decision during the third NEC meeting which took place at the party’s National Secretariat on Tuesday in Abuja.

This is in line with the ealier position canvassed on Monday by the Forum of State Chairmen of the ruling party, asking NEC to extend the life span of the present administration by two years.

The tenure extension was not only for the National Working Committee but also for State Working Committees and Local government executives.

According to a source present at the meeting, which lasted for about three hours, the motion for the tenure elongation was moved by a member of the NWC and 104 members of NEC voted in its favour while only four including Governor Rochas Okorocha voted against.

The source disclosed that the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai had advised President Buhari to work closely with the governors if he is interested in being re-election.

Part of the governors agenda was to pass vote of confidence on Oyegun and also move for the extension of the tenure of all elected executives, a move that will position the governors to take hold of the party structure at the grassroot.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello said that the NEC took the decision to avoid further crises in the party. He said that the tenure elongation will come to an end by the end of June, 2019.

Bello, who was flanked by the Chairmen of state chapters of Plateau, Rivers, Anambra, Ondo and Nasarawa states as well as National Vice Chairman, North East, said: “At the end of the NEC meeting today (Tuesday), a major decision was taken, in line with the Constitution of the party. We are all aware that the tenure of the current NWC and the executive members of this party, both elected and appointed comes to an end June this year.

“Considering the time left for the party to conduct all the Congresses and convention, and considering that our leader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been charged with the responsibility of reconciling all aggrieved members of our party, we cannot afford to approach the general election with more dispute and crises.

“And relying on Article 13 of our Constitution, which empowers the NEC to carry out the functions of the convention, the NEC has decided to extend the tenure of the current NWC and other executive committees at various levels to another 12 months starting from June 30”.

The present NWC led by John Odigie-Oyegun was elected on June 2014 and is expected to come to an end in June, 2018.

The party stated that the June convention will still hold but will be a non-elective convention where the party will merely ratify the amendments on its constitution.

The NEC was attended by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, all the APC governors, members of the National Assembly, State Chairmen, Ministers and other stakeholders.