Looming mass defection: Buhari meets Saraki, other lawmakers

President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday night met behind closed doors with members of the National Assembly, including Senate President, Bukola Saraki , as part of last minute desperate move to halt the looming mass defections threatening the ruling All Progressive Congress ( APC)

Later, the President also engaged members Buhari Parliamentary Support Group,led by its Chairman, Musa Sarkin Adar, representing Goronyo/Gada Federal constituency of Sokoto State, in a meeting that dragged into the early morning of Friday

Speaking with State House Correspondents after the meeting, Adar said the meeting x-rayed issues of concerns raised by its members across the federation.

Party members had expressed misgivings following the just concluded APC congresses held from wards, to local government to state levels.

According to him” there were so many discrepancies and issues that came up and people made a lot of complaints and they were not listened to, as a result of that some people thought that they will move out of the party and join another parties”

“Others, even before that have made up their minds they are going somewhere and we feel it is necessary to come and inform the president that we are committed to remain party members, but issues should be looked into and addressed properly, so that all aggrieved members can be persuaded to remain together so that we can ensure victory for our party in the 2019 general elections.”

The meeting BusinessDay gathered was also called to encourage the relationship between the executive and the national Assembly.

“We know who causes all those frictions and we are trying as much as possible to make sure that such things do not happen again for the betterment of this country. We should not be partisan in everything we do, especially on our conduct on the floor of the House”

He also called on the leaders of the APC to take a cue from the experiences of the previous National Assembly.

“ We know what happened then and we know what it caused the country. So it is now a clarion call for us to rally behind the President and the need for us to also be listened to so that the issues of development of this country can be addressed.

The lawmakers were said to have renewed their call for zonal intervention or what they called constituency projects.

“ it is not money given to us, but projects worth millions of naira that we should only site where it should be sited in our various constituencies and it is one of the most unifying factor of this country”

“Because it one of the ways in which you can have a reflective performance of the government in certain areas.
For example if you go to rural areas and you don’t have provision of water borehole, primary school or primary health care, before you take certain projects to them, it will be difficult.
“But these constituency projects that are allocated to us on the basis of where you come from and you select 1 2 3 4 or whatever the money allocated to the project is given then that is what your people will benefit from and as such, there is equitable distribution of infrastructure across the nation.

Mohammed Gololo, (Gamawa Federal Constituency) who also spoke, said they are “hopeful that with the interaction we are having with the national chairman of the party, with the synergy that is ongoing, most likely, the defection may not take place as it used to be amplified.”

Secretary to the Government of the Federation ( SGF) Boss Mustapha, described the meeting as an “encouraging interface between the legislature and the Executive”
He noted that it was part of the fall out of the National Assembly Open Week, adding that “ this is a continuation of that engagement and I believe that after this kind of interaction with different arms of government, we will be able to build synergy, build consensus on issues and find resolutions to it.”

For him, “ Politics is a game of negotiations, it’s a game of dialogue, and understanding and it is for the betterment of our country.
“We are the party in government; the legislature is part of government; if the executive does not succeed, it will also rub off on the legislature. So it is just a continuation of this dialogue that can afford us the chance to deliver the dividends of democracy to our people.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters ( Senate) Ita Enang, commended the lawmakers for responding to the invitation of the President
“This is one of the back channels that is being arranged and is granted by Mr President and officers of the Executive from time to time to enable the legislators interact personally, with personal questions and personal concerns on the state, the party, projects and programmes of government and that has been fully addressed and of cours
He disclosed that President Buhari has directed the National Chairman of the party to address all the issues of concern raised by the lawmakers, assuring them that matters of the party will be properly addressed and that none of them should have fear because the party is for every person.

“ He has told them how the nominations will go and has given them confidence and this confidence will be transmitted to all other members of the House and Senate who are not here and next time, we are going to arrange for Senators in the next few days as part of confidence building and bridging the gap between the executive and legislature”

Tony Ailemen, Abuja

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