The national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), senator Bola Tinubu, yesterday explained his support for the effort of Senate Leader, senator Ahmad Lawan, and Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, for ninth National Assembly leadership, saying it is in compliance with the directive of the ruling party.
The APC had nominated Lawan and Gbajabiamila for the presidency of the Senate and the speakership of the House of Representatives respectively and enjoined all its members-elect in both chambers to support them when the National Assembly is convened in june.
But a pair of members-elect had kicked against the party’s directive, demanding that they exercise their rights to contest the positions even as this development tends to enhance the chances of the main opposition Peoples democratic party (PDP) to determine which of the contending APC members-elect would mount the saddle of leadership.
Indications at the weekend were that the PDP members-elect would vote as a bloc in a strong bid to frustrate the APC’s determination to have its choice candidates emerge winners.
Tinubu in a statement by his media office yesterday in Lagos aforesaid his unalloyed support for Lawan and Gbajabiamila was to help the APC attain its objective, explaining that it was obligatory for him to obey the party’s directive.
He said contrary to insinuations in certain quarters that he was doing so to prepare the ground for his presumed presidential ambition in 2023, his action was motivated to ensure that the party has a firm grip of both chambers in order to assist the executive arm controlled by the party to have easier passage of legislations and policies needed for the effective implementation of its programmes.
According to him, all his mind, heart and efforts are targeted on backing the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari in achieving their shared vision of a flourishing economy and a prosperous people, saying he would have committed a terrible blunder by navigating the president’s position.
Tinubu said those who cast aspersions at him were actually bucking against the declared position of Buhari.
He urged rumour-mongers to court greater discipline and wisdom, adding that there is no action a person can take that constitutes a political guarantee as to what may come four years from now.
The APC national leader also dismissed the claim that having allies in the National Assembly leadership positions will greatly enhance someone’s presidential ambitions as spurious.
“Tinubu is neither inclined, nor sufficiently naïve, to take his eye off the present in the futile attempt to peer through the thick fog that is the future,” he said.
He added that the National Assembly positions are vital to the fulfillment of the president’s agenda, stressing that a painful lesson was learned in this respect in the last four years.
“With the Senate leadership usurped by regressive elites, that chamber constituted a brake on progress and good governance. The Senate leadership, and to a lesser degree the House leadership, stymied APC legislative initiatives while attempting to hoist noxious, reactionary and self-interested legislation on the state,” he explained.
Tinubu accused the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and also the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, of hijacking the budget process these past four years.
“National budgets were delayed and distorted as these actors repeatedly sought to pad budgets with pet projects that would profit them. Even worse, they cut funds intended to prosper projects that would have benefitted the average person. After four years of their antics halting the progress of government, we should do all we can to prevent a repeat of their malign control of the National Assembly,” he added.
In the statement titled: ‘Tinubu Focusing on the Issues of Today: Tomorrow is the Master of Itself,’ the former Lagos State governor pointed out that in 2015, Saraki bulldozed his way into the Senate presidency.
Tinubu said: “He planted himself at the apex of legislative power. But his actions as Senate president showed a man devoid of compassion for the average Nigerian. All he cared for was power and position.
“Soon he will be deprived of both. House Speaker Dogara has fared only slightly better. Occupying these positions is not a guarantee of future success. It is only a guarantee of present duty.”
He added: “Politics requires jockeying and maneuvering for influence to get the right people in the right positions. To be beneficial, politics must be tied to the greater purpose of governance such as with President Buhari’s goal to reform the national economy for the good of all Nigerians.
“In supporting the party and the president, Tinubu has shown his commitment to achieving the president’s goals. Nothing more should be read into it.”
