The All Progressives Congress’ (APC) preferred candidate for the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and his supporters of planning on decamping to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Gbajabiamila who was accompanied by lawmakers loyal to him said Dogara and his cohorts were ridiculing the APC by flouting its directives.
READ ALSO: Here are the 11-point issues Buhari, Gbajabiamila and his loyalists discussed [READ}
He said: “The conduct of the 39 APC members colluding with the PDP is tantamount to affront, ultimately targeted at polarising our party so as to give room for many of them to decamp to the PDP.
“The 39 APC members in the house continue to collude with the PDP to flagrantly disobey Mr. President, the governors and the party with a view to bringing the party and government to ridicule before Nigerians.
“It is therefore imperative for Mr. President to take a stand and save the integrity of the party, by cautioning, the 39 members, which include the speaker and the deputy speaker, to respect, honour and obey our party leaders and their directives.
“The party has chosen not to punish the 39 APC members including the elected speaker and deputy speaker, but chose to direct, as it is customary and conventional, on how the other four (4) principal officers should be distributed. Alas! The opposition and the 39 members continue to hold the ruling party in contempt by disobeying the party.
“Whereas, the beneficiaries of the disobedience are citing federal character principle as the main reason for their disobedience.
“The house of representatives is not an agency of the federal government and the principal officers positions are elective and not by appointment. If the federal character is applicable to the national assembly, then both the senate president and the speaker cannot come from the north, one of them should be advised to step down.”
