The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has cleared that he has no interest in the leadership of the 10th National Assembly during a meeting with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) National Assembly members-elect in Abuja on Monday.
President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying emphatically that he has no preferred candidates for the leadership of the federal parliament in the 10th National Assembly.
Tinubu, represented by the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, disclosed this at the meeting with new members-elect to the National Assembly in Abuja.
The President-elect’s position on the composition of the leadership of the soon-to-be composed 10th National Assembly was delivered at the meeting by the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima.
He quoted Shettima as saying, “For now, he (Tinubu) said he doesn’t have anybody that he prefers to have as Senate President or Speaker, but consultations are going to continue to get the way out for the party and to also ensure the party emerges victorious in the forthcoming governorship and Houses of Assembly elections.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers newly elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, on Monday, in Abuja, said the party would zone principal offices only after the conclusion of the governorship and state Assembly elections holding on Saturday, March 18.
The meeting, which comes barely two weeks after the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, is the first between the newly elected members of parliament and the party.
It followed rife speculations that the APC would use the medium to speedily zone principal offices in the two chambers of the 10th National Assembly to avert a repeat of the 2015 scenario where the party lost grip of the legislature despite retaining the highest number of seats in both chambers.
Earlier at the meeting, the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, warned the senators-elect and Reps-elect that the National Working Committee of the APC would not allow a repeat of the NASS leadership tussle that created ‘bad blood’ among lawmakers and the executives in 2015.
Adamu’s address is coming a few days after disgruntled members of the NWC called for the reformation of the party and his resignation to balance the contentious Muslim-Muslim ticket of the incoming administration, which has generated tension before the 2023 elections.
In his speech, Adamu admitted that the ‘civilian coup’ executed by the duo of Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara to emerge as Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker in 2015 was still haunting the ruling party.
He said, “The news media, especially the social media, are full of speculations of some of you jostling for leadership positions in the national assembly.
“This is not unusual. People have the right to struggle for positions of leadership for which they believe they are eminently qualified.
“But we, in the National Working Committee of the party are not comfortable with the tone adopted by those who seek those offices. Those offices are not tribal or sectional rights and must not be so portrayed.”
He drew his audience’s attention to what happened to the party and the National Assembly in 2015 when some members of the federal legislature chose not to wait for the decision of the President and the party before sharing those offices.
“It created bad blood within the party and between the executive and the legislature. I urge us not to regress.
“We would like to offer a word of caution to all of you in this regard. It may be good to start early but sometimes, when you start too early, you jump the gun and court unintended consequences that may cause nasty divisions in the party and thus affect its health.
Leadership position at the national level is a delicate matter and must not be approached with levity or lack.
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