…Tambuwal Yet To Get Back To Us
SAN FRANCISCO, July 08, (THEWILL) – As efforts to resolve the crisis over leadership positions in the House of Representatives continue, a group, the APC Loyalists Group, said on Wednesday that it was not aware of any private discussion between Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday evening at the Aso Villa, Abuja .
The 174-member group also denied knowledge that Gov. Tambuwal briefed the press that there would be a meeting between him and the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara,’s group same day.
A statement issued Wednesday and signed by Hon. Rufai Chachangi on behalf of the group, said: To the best of our knowledge, no counter-offer has been made to the APC Loyalists Group after its first meeting with Tambuwal peace committee wherein the APC Loyalists clearly stated that in line with party supremacy resolution reached at last APC NEC meeting, the position of the party on Femi Gbajabiamila as the House Leader is non-negotiable.
“We understand that the Dogara group is now playing the zoning card after same group had hitherto before the speakership election of June 9th, 2015 rejected the zoning formula of the party prior to the mock election. Interestingly, the six geopolitical zones in the country are not recognised by the constitution . But if they wish to play the zoning card, then the Senate and House cannot be headed by the North.
“For avoidance of doubt, the issue of South East being denied a principal officer’s seat in the House is hogwash. We have respect for people of South East but we cannot hold brief for a zone that produced only two “new” APC members. The issue of exclusion of South East does not exist, rather they are not qualified to be principal officers of the House. For emphasis and clarity, the provision of standing rules of the House, Order 7 Rule 37 states that “Only members with cognate legislative experience as members of the National Assembly shall be eligible for appointment as principal officers.
“We are also surprised that a group led by Speaker Dogara, who is a lawyer, is talking about a court action presumably instigated by him based on federal character, when a fresh law school graduate knows that the issue of federal character as enshrined in S.14 of the constitution is non justiciable and of no legal consequence.
“In playing his mediatory role , the former House Speaker, Gov. Tambuwal, agreed to take our position to Dogara group for consideration and convene a joint meeting of both groups, which is yet to be convened as at Wednesday evening. So any purported decision reeled out to the public in the name of the National Assembly peace pact before such joint meeting is lopsided and not acceptable to the APC Loyalists group.
“However, as a group that wants peace and quick solution to the logjam in the House, the APC loyalists group would equally subscribe to an election among entire members of the APC House Caucus where all members, irrespective of zones, would exercise their right to elect their principal officers.”
