We have right to field candidates for Senate President, House speaker, PDP insists

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has exclusive right as a party to field candidates for the office of the Senate President, Deputy Vice President, Speaker House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker as well as other principal officer positions.

The party said its elected senators and members of the House of Representatives are constitutionally eligible and can seek election into any presiding office of both chambers of the National Assembly.

This was coming at the heel of the declaration by the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, that the party should occupy all positions and chairmanship of all committees in both chambers.

The PDP noted that the position of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as the Deputy Senate President and the Deputy Speaker are not the exclusive preserves of any political party, but a constitutional right of every elected lawmaker in both chambers.

National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement Tuesday, dismissed claims by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that it will fill all leadership position by virtue of majority number of APC members in both chambers.

He said: “It is therefore laughable and amounts to empty grandstanding and self-delusion for President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, to posture as if the presiding officers and Committee Chairmanship in the National Assembly are exclusive rights of the APC.

“President Buhari and Oshiomhole should wake up to the fact that the National Assembly belongs to no political party but to all Nigerians, who exercise their control through their elected representatives.

“For emphasis, Section 50 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is clear in providing that “There shall be (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.

“Section 92 (1) makes the same provision for the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of State House of Assembly.

“The PDP, therefore, does not only have a constitutional say in the process of the emergence of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly, but will, as a matter of constitutional right, field candidates into presiding offices of both chambers, if need be.

“The PDP wishes to remind President Buhari and Oshiomhole that the APC had in the past benefited from the provisions of section 50, with the defection of then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal from the PDP to the APC, in October 2014, without relinquishing the speakership of the House to the PDP; a development that was applauded by President Buhari, as then opposition leader as well as the APC, through its then National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

“In fact, the former Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, echoed the constitutional provision that “the constitution requires only that the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be elected by members of that House from among themselves”.

“Moreover, in June 2015, Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange and Hon. Peter Azi, both of APC, were elected Speakers of Benue and Plateau State Houses of Assembly respectively, though their party, the APC, was minority in both Houses”.

The PDP noted that the party offices in the legislature are the Majority and Minority Leaders and Deputy Leaders as well as Majority and Minority Whips and Deputy Whips, and that the party will take decisions on this in due course.

The PDP, therefore, cautioned President Buhari, Oshiomhole and the APC to respect the independence of the legislature, end their imposition plot and sowing of seeds of discord among the lawmakers, as such is directly against our overall national interest.