House Leadership: Either Buhari or Gbaja Lied To Nigerians – PDP Reps

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, caucus in the House of Representatives on Sunday
disclosed that its members were in shock to hear that President Muhammadu Buhari in
reality supported the emergence of Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila as the Majority Leader of the
8th Assembly.

Gbajabiamila, from Lagos State, had aspired for the office of Speaker of the House but
lost the position to Yakubu Dogara from Buachi State. After his loss, the leadership of
the All Progressives Congress, APC, forwarded his name to the House as its nominee
for the position of Majority Leader of the House.
However, the PDP lawmakers said they were shocked by the latest revelation that the
President was backing Gbajabiamila to be the Majority Leader, as it went contrary to his
initial public declaration that he would remain neutral in the choices of the principal
officers of the National Assembly.
The lawmakers stated this at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja last Friday.
Gbajabiamila had disclosed how he wanted to opt out of the race for principal officers
but was prevented by the President.
The Minority Whip of the House, Mr. Yakubu Barde, speaking on behalf of the caucus,
said that it would appear that the President did not tell Nigerians the truth when he
earlier said that he was not interested in whoever emerged as principal officers in the
legislature.
According to Barde, the majority leader’s revelation had also thrown up the question as
to who between Buhari and Gbajabiamila had lied to Nigerians.
The caucus whip stated: “However, with the latest revelation by Gbajabiamila, we are
not sure who is telling the truth between the two men.
“It is either one of them lied to Nigerians or both men jointly and separately lied.
“If as Gbajabiamila claimed, Buhari did influence his emergence as House leader, it will
rather be unfortunate that the President is not a man of his words and Nigerians should
now begin to scrutinise every word that emanates from him.
“We are alarmed by this development because it portends grave danger for our
democracy and the independence of the legislature.
“The President must resist the temptation to use his power and influence to
compromise the institution of the National Assembly by directly involving himself in the
process of emergence of the principal officers of the House.”
The PDP caucus said the development also suggested that the President belonged to
“a few people” as against his inauguration declaration of “I belong to everybody and I
belong to nobody.”