The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday, June 25, 2015 condemned the brawl which took place during plenary sitting of the House of Representatives over the selection principal officers.
Speaking via a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, the PDP pointed fingers at President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the cause of the melee, as the believe that the “disgraceful act” was carried put by APC lawmakers on the instruction of the presidency.
Metuh said information made available to him showed that “the brawling APC lawmakers ostensibly acted on instructions from the Presidency, an obvious indication that President Buhari is largely an interested party whose involvement is beyond mere body language”.
Metuh went on to take jabs at President Buhari, questioning his and the APC’s commitment to democracy and the independence of the National Assembly, adding that the there was nothing to be surprised about the actions of the APC lawmakers as their party had violence as an unwritten manifesto.
He said: “The barbaric attempt to physically assault a duly elected Speaker, seize the mace, the authority of the House, is a direct attack on the Nigerian parliament which embodies the supremacy of the people and our freedom as a democratic nation”.
Metuh further blamed the APC-led federal government for the recent upheavals at several levels of government, stating that the APC had shown its incompetence, stressing that the fracas at the House of Representatives underscores the fact that the APC had exhausted its excuses and has imported its internal contradictions into an independent arm of government.
His words: “We state unequivocally that the onus lies on President Buhari to ensure that all democratic institutions are harnessed for effectiveness, a responsibility he has apparently abdicated by allowing his personal interest to instigate division in the parliament, a tendency that poses great threat to the survival of our democracy and the stability of the nation.
“If a party that has since March 28, 2015 when it got its victory, about 90 days ago, cannot resolve a basic issue of selecting its leadership in the National Assembly, clearly, their competence for national governance comes to question.”
