President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu has stated that he has no preferred candidates for the 10th National Assembly leadership. He made the announcement Wednesday in Abuja, while speaking to newly elected members of the All Progressives Congress during a gathering hosted by the party (APC).
In addition, the ruling party has urged its legislators-elect not to rest on their electoral successes, asking them to work harder in the upcoming gubernatorial and legislative elections.
During the closed-door meeting, Tinubu’s position was relayed by Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima.
There had been conjecture that the conference was prompted by the necessity to iron out the distribution of leadership positions in the two chambers in order to avoid a repeat of the 2015 scenario, in which the party lost power of the legislature despite having the most seats in both hallowed chambers.
Fielding questions after the meeting, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, observed: “The meeting was to bring members-elect, both Senate and the House together to assure members that in spite of all the odds against the party, we were able to overcome.” He confirmed that the forum did discuss issue of zoning, which had dominated discussions recently.
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Also speaking, Senator Ali Ndume submitted: “The meeting ended well. We did an assessment of our performance and also to go back home to ensure that we take the victory to the end. Nigerians have spoken and elected APC, and we have some ups and downs as usual every electoral process.
“The party appealed to NASS members-elect to play down the leadership issue and focus more on ensuring that we take the election battle to the end. And that is to ensure that we win our states. So, the party has charged us and agreed that interactions like these should be frequent to allow us go in the same direction to avoid bad experiences of 2015 and 2019.”
The lawmaker said zoning did not form the crux of deliberation during the meeting.
