President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his total commitment to the values of democracy, freedom of choice and total willingness to work with all members of the National Assembly, irrespective of their political party.
Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, said Buhari was reacting to purported defection of some members of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Buhari noted that none of the defecting federal lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had any specific grievances against him or the APC-led government; neither did he harbour anything against any of them.
“As the saying goes, all politics is local. We understand that some of the distinguished and honourable lawmakers have issues with their home states, especially on zoning which bars some of them from seeking another term in their constituencies,” he said.
While noting that the APC had done its utmost to stop the defections, the president commended the leadership of the party for relentlessly working for its unity and ensuring success in the upcoming elections.
Buhari assured members of the APC of his total support and urged party faithful not to despair but to see the defections as a seasonal occurrence that happens on election eves.
He expressed confidence that no harm or injury would be done to the party and its aspirations by the movements.
The president, therefore, wished all the decamped members the best in their future undertakings.
It would be recalled that 15 senators on July 25 announced their defection from the APC to the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
In a letter to the President of the Senate, signed by 14 senators, they indicated their intention to leave the ruling APC for the opposition PDP.
Also 37 members of the House of Representatives formerly in the fold of the APC dumped the party same date and moved to the PDP and African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The legislators in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, officially announced their defection during plenary on Tuesday.
We respect rights of members to change parties – APC
Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, said on Tuesday that it respects the rights of anyone to change parties.
The APC was reacting to the defection of 15 senators and 36 members of the House of Representatives from it on Tuesday. Majority of the defectors joined the opposition PDP.
“APC notes the development in the National Assembly with the defection of some of our members from the party,” Bolaji Abdullahi, the APC spokesperson, said in a statement.
“APC remains in firm control of 25 states of the 36 states of the federation and maintains a clear majority in the federal House of Representatives and state assemblies.”
“it would appear however that the individuals involved have different considerations beyond the grievances that they were willing to discuss and which our leaders were willing to address,” Mr Abdullahi said.
The party, therefore, urged its members to remain calm, saying it would continue to prepare the party towards 2019.
“As a truly democratic party, we respect the right of every citizen to political association. Therefore, we urge our members to remain calm as we continue to work hard to position our party strongly for the next general elections.
