Reconcile Aggrieved APC Members, Reps Speaker Tells Ganduje | Independent Newspaper Nigeria

Source: Independent Newspapers Nigeria

ABUJA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ab­bas Tajudeen, has urged the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to constitute reconciliation committees that would unite the members of the party na­tionwide.

Speaker Abbas noted that some members of the APC were aggrieved, which was why there was the need to rec­oncile and make peace with them.

Speaking at the APC stakeholders' meeting for the North- West in Kaduna on Sunday, the speaker said such action would bring more successes to the APC as one big political family.

He said, "I want to call on the national chairman and our party executive to ensure peaceful coexistence among all party members. As previ­ous speakers have said, we are bedeviled with many issues in different states, in every local government.

"It is time to draw a line. Elections are over; this is time for governance. We should for­get what has happened; let's for­give one another; let's embrace 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 use his position in addressing the high turnover rate of members of the Na­tional Assembly, saying APC members that performed well should be given the opportuni­ty 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 there are others 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 reelected. We should give the competent ones the opportu­nity to return to the National Assembly."

Speaker Abbas com-West, saying the zone should appre­ciate him by redoubling its ef­forts in 2027.

"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 bedeviled 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 (area), every state and the coun­try as a whole."

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 North-West 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."

He said some of the critical areas that the National Assem­bly identified in the constitu­tion review were state police, local government autonomy, women inclusion in politics and governance, and the role of the traditional institutions.