A member of the House of Representatives, Hon AbdulRaheem Olajide Jimoh, has accused President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the lower chamber, Hon. Yakubu Dogara of engineering the National Assembly Crisis.
Jimoh, who represents Lagos Mainland Federal Constituency in the House of Representative, said this during a meeting with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the leaders of the party in Mainland/Yaba Constituency.
He said “No member of the APC should disobey the party on the choice of principal officers in the National Assembly. As a member of the APC, you sent me to represent you and there’s need to feed you back on whatever is happening at the National Assembly. The leadership crises in National Assembly was caused by the sentiment of people like the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Reps, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
“All of us in the National Assembly passed through the party to win elections, therefore I don’t see any reason for challenging the supremacy of the party’s leaders. The Speaker of the House of Reps, Rt. Hon. Dogara received a letter from the party and he failed to read it on the floor of the House, which led to a fight among the members. Is that not an act of impunity?” he asked.
“In the United States of America, if a party decides on a position, nobody would violate it or try to overrule the decisions of the party. Therefore, the Senate President and the Reps Speaker and their allies should recognise the supremacy of the party in the choice of principal officers of the National Assembly.”
“Other legislators and I are loyal to the party. We stood our ground. We need to obey the decision of the party because the party is supreme. As far as we are concerned, we are yet to take a decision now on the choice of principal officers of the National Assembly.”