The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday said it would not share principal offices and ‘juicy’committee slots in the Senate with the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Lanre Isa-Onilu, said this at a press conference at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
“My emphasis is on the fact that we are not going to share powers, including what the PDP people call juicy committees and we call strategic committees, with people that Nigerians have rejected. They are exclusive for the APC.
“We don’t need them to head any committee where they are going to compromise the promises we have made to Nigerians.
Isa-Onilu also spoke on the zoning of principal offices of the Senate, pointing out that only the decision on the party’s preferred candidate for the position of the Senate President for the 9th Assembly had been taken.
He added that the zoning formula for the remaining positions in the Senate and those in the House of Representatives was still being worked out.
According to him, “We have decided who will be the next Senate President according to what democratic principles allow and that person is Senator Ahmed Lawan.
“That has been done and announced, it is left for the party to cross the‘t’s and dot the ‘i’s to get that sorted out.”
Insisting that the PDP was not being considered for any position, he said “Nigerians cannot give us a mandate and we will go and give part of it to those they have rejected. We cannot betray the people of this country and we will never do it. The zoning arrangement for all the other positions is in the works.
“Just as the media and Nigerians have been informed about who our preferred candidate for the Senate Presidency is, we will come out to tell you what the zoning formula will be for the remaining positions in the Senate and also in the House of Representatives very shortly.”
Isa-Onilu said the presidential system of government being practised in Nigeria encouraged the “winner to take all.”
This, he said, was the reason why the PDP would not be allowed to produce any leader in the National Assembly.
He said, “It is democracy. I have listened to the PDP and in their usual style, they exhibited gross ignorance. What we practise in Nigeria is called presidential system of government. In this type of government, it is winners take all. Once you win, you take whatever you want. There is no room for power sharing.
“We don’t need it because we don’t need them (the PDP) to run this government. We have enough number to run this government. In any case, when we were campaigning, we never told Nigerians that we were going to share power with any other party.”