The Former
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, and one of the founding members of the
PDP,Obong Victor Attah has reacted to the outcome of the National
Assembly elections, describing the ongoing event at the Senate as very
sad and unfortunate, saying, it’s “an unfortunate return to garrison
politics.”
The former Governor also exonerated President Buhari
from the ongoing squabble, saying he was not given the chance as the
leader of the party to address the issue before it escalated.
He
commended Femi Gbajabimila for not accepting the position of Deputy
Speaker after he lost to Dogara, saying, “Graciously he rose from his
seat, embraced and congratulated the man who had defeated him and that
immediately put the elected speaker at ease. That can only help to
deepen democracy
“More
than that, Gbajabiamila demonstrated that his ambition was not just to
occupy an office, so he turned down, without hesitation, the offer to
take the position of deputy.”
Read his full reaction below:
“First
let me look at the process. In the Green Chamber, Gbajabiamila, a well
respected and popular contestant for speakership and indeed the
preferred candidate of his party, the APC, lost. He lost by eight votes.
Pity, but the fact remains that he lost by a democratic process.
“Graciously
he rose from his seat, embraced and congratulated the man who had
defeated him and that immediately put the elected speaker at ease. That
can only help to deepen democracy
“More
than that, Gbajabiamila demonstrated that his ambition was not just to
occupy an office, so he turned down, without hesitation, the offer to
take the position of deputy.
“He gained my respect and admiration
and I dare say that gesture has surely put the entire House at ease in
much the same way as former President Jonathan’s decision to concede
victory to President Buhari helped to put Nigeria at ease.
“In
the Red Chamber, the Senate, the story was quite different. The
President, a newly elected President had called members of his party to a
meeting ahead of the convocation. Some members of his party and the
Clerk of the Senate took advantage of that to enact what can only be
described as an unfortunate return to garrison politics. How sad! How
very sad!
“Forget what the party had done, I will come to that,
but this is a President that had said, with all honesty, that he had no
favorite. Who knows if what the President intended to tell his party
members at the meeting that was so rudely snubbed was not to say that
they should vote
their conscience.
“After all, the National Assembly which is composed of several parties is to serve the nation and not only one party.
“With
APC having 59 members and the PDP 49, and given the fact that both
Saraki and Lawan – the preferred candidates, are of the same party, any
one of them could have won and the victory would have been glorious if
it had been as a result of proper democratic process rather than
brinkmanship.
“However let us look at the consequence of the
leadership split – Senate President, APC; Deputy Senate President, PDP.
Deployed positively this is bound to be good for the country provided
the PDP does not take advantage
of its position to play the dog in the manger.
The
President must be not hamstrung in his desire for change which we all
voted for, but by the same token every legislation will now need support
from both sides to sail through. We can learn lessons from President
Obama’s Medicare bill.
“The issue of party supremacy is a
different matter. It must not be forgotten that the elected members
constitute the constituency for the election of their leaders.
Unfortunately, ruling parties tend always to treat such elections as party matter which in fact they are not. That is why I referred to both Gbajabiamila and Lawan as preferred candidates –
preferred by their party
APC but the final choice must be that of the
elected members to make.
t
“Party
supremacy unfortunately has often been used as a weapon for, and a thin
veil to dress up the undemocratic phenomen of imposition. Indeed
democracy has had a new birth, let us nurture it to maturity.”
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