President Muhammadu Buhari has finally spoken up about the issue of the emergence of the new leaders of the House of Assembly.
He made his position known while granting an interview with ARISE TV shortly after the dinner held for Heads of States after the 25th Opening Session of the African Union (AU) in Johannesburg, South Africa.While answering questions in the assembly elections, President Buhari said compared the election to the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries which saw him emerge as the party’s candidate.
He said:“For example, when we came to our party’s primary for the presidential election, four of us stood (in the primary). There was no problem because it is part of the system.
“I happened to win and they agreed there and then that we should all work for the party. But unfortunately, in this National Assembly, there was a division. So it’s up to them (legislators) to sort it out.
“There is a system in the National Assembly – the House of Representatives and the Senate – they have got their own criteria for choosing their leaders.
“We had a meeting and I told the party’s caucus that I’m not going to interfere, because constitutionally, I have (sic) no role as president-elect to tell the party who to recommend or put (forward) as a candidate.
“The party didn’t want to present two candidates because if they presented two candidates, what we heard occurred (would have) eventually happened.
“But then Saraki did not agree with that; he virtually divided the party and he got the support of the PDP and he allowed a PDP senator to become his deputy.”
He further described the house election as a “purely party affair.”
