2019: APC mediates between Presidency and NASS

By Naomi Sharang

The National Working Committee ( NWC ) of the  All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday met with Senate caucus in a bid to mediate between the Presidency and the National Assembly.

The NWC of the party, led by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, at the meeting which  lasted for two-and-a-half hours,  resolved to constitute an all encompassing team to look into the differences between the two arms  of government.

Membership of the peace team according to the Senate Leader , Ahmed Lawan, who spoke to newsmen after the meeting, would be  drawn from the executive, legislature, the governors body and the party secretariat.

He said the team was charged with the responsibility of reducing the  level of misunderstanding among members of the party across the board .

Lawan said it was pertinent for the team to be raised to  look into  disagreements at different levels of the party in order not to allow such disagreements  cause clog in the wheel of progress of the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.

According to him, discussions at the meeting centred around so many issues among which was how to forestall crisis envisaged from the reordered  sequence of elections adopted by both chambers of the National Assembly in the electoral act amendment bill vetoed by the President.

He said: “the purpose of the meeting was to discuss happenings in the party across the country, across all levels of government.

“Senators took turns to express the way out of some of the issues bedeviling the party and I believe that it was a worthwhile, very frank discussion.

“The party will soon constitute a team that will comprise the executive, the legislature, the party itself and representatives from our governors.

“We are very happy as a caucus that the interaction was worthwhile and am sure our party was also glad to be here with us this afternoon.

“We as members of the National Assembly are and will remain committed to ensuring that we continue to support the change agenda of our administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The party is the platform for all of us, both the legislature and the executive and in my own view the party has done well by coming.

“This is our party, this is our government, this is our administration. We shouldn’t be fighting dirty in the open,” the lawmaker said.

In his  opening remarks before  the closed door meeting, the party’s National  Chairman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun  said the meeting aimed at discussing, generally, issues that had arisen in the polity in recent times.

He said happenings within the polity necessitated the party leadership to  meet with its Senate caucus to reason, to strategise on the 2019 election.

” We hope to have a better party after the meeting”, he said.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki,  led the APC  Senate caucus to the meeting.