The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has urged the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Abdullahi Ganduje to constitute reconciliation committees to unite aggrieved members of the party nationwide.
The speaker said some members of the APC are not happy, which is why effort must be made to bring them back into the party’s fold.
Speaking at the APC stakeholders’ meeting for the North-West zone in Kaduna on Sunday, Abbas said a deliberate move to woo aggrieved members back to APC would augur well for the party.
A statement issued on Sunday by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Speaker, Musa Krishi quoted Abbas as saying, “I want to call on the National Chairman and our party executive to ensure peaceful coexistence among all party members. We are bedevilled with many issues in different states, and every local government.
“It is time to draw a line. Elections are over; this is the time for governance. We should forget what has happened, Forgive one another and one another.
“I want to suggest to the National Chairman, and by extension, the National Vice Chairman, to, as a matter of urgency, constitute reconciliation committees for the zone and for every state to constitute the same reconciliation committees so that we can make peace and bring those that we may have offended back to the party.”
Speaker Abbas also urged Ganduje to make use of his office in addressing the high turnover rate of members of the National Assembly, saying APC members who perform well should be allowed to return in 2027.
“On the issue of the high turnover of members of the National Assembly, this is a golden opportunity under your tenure to ensure that you do everything humanly possible for current APC members of the National Assembly and States Houses of Assembly to return in 2027.
“Some people may say others are waiting. But I need to emphatically mention that the National Assembly is an institution where the older you are in the system, the better you become.
“Today, the North-West, based on the 2023 elections, is worse off. That is the reason, perhaps, we did not get the kind of prominence we should have gotten. So, let’s ensure that only the worst of us do not get re-elected. We should allow the competent ones to return to the National Assembly,” he pleaded.
The Speaker commended President Bola Tinubu for supporting prominent North-West leaders in key positions in his government.
“We thank Mr President for finding the North-West worthy of many important positions. This is the first time that we have the Speaker, the Deputy President of the Senate and the National Chairman of our party emerging from the zone.
“To whom much is given, much is expected. It is our turn to appreciate Mr President, to appreciate our party by ensuring that we do everything humanly possible to bring dividends of democracy to our people; to ensure that the insecurity that has bedevilled our zone is brought to its logical conclusion; to also ensure that in 2027, we redouble our efforts for the APC to do better in every ward, every local government, every state and the country as a whole,” the statement also quoted the Speaker as saying.
He called on party leaders at different levels to support the party structures, saying “What I observed is that attention is given to the party when elections are near. After elections, nothing moves, nothing happens.
“I want to implore us, the leaders, to support our party not only during elections but at all times. That’s the only way we can guarantee success for our party.
“On our part at the National Assembly, we’ll sit with the leadership of the party in the North-West to come up with some measures of support. I’ve already briefed the National Chairman during our last meeting that we would reach out to every member to ensure that every month, something is sent to the party to support it. We expect that all members of state caucuses will replicate the same.”
On the ongoing constitution amendment by the National Assembly, Speaker Abbas said, “This is an opportunity for us in the Northwest to sit down and bring up the areas that we can do better as a country.
“We want to see if we can replicate what we did in the 8th Assembly by empowering all our senators and Honourable members to go back to their constituencies on an appointed date to interact with the people, giving them the areas of priority so that by the time we come back, every member will vote based on the mandate given by his people.”
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