Federal lawmakers of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, extraction, are under fire over the recent emergency of Senator Ahmed Lawan as President of the Senate, and Honorable Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The party’s National Working Committee, NWC, has set up a fact-finding committee to probe why its candidates for the two prime positions-Senator Ali Udume, for President of the Senate, and Honorable Umaru Bago, for Speaker-failed to clinch the coveted positions.
The committee is also to scrutinize the specific roles played by PDP members during the exercise.
The Crest recalls that, unlike what happened in 2015, some of the party’s members in both chambers of the National Assembly snubbed the party’s directive and voted Lawan and Gbajabiamila.
Announcing the birth of the probe panel through a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party gave the committee’s terms of reference as including: “To find out why some of our Honorable members and senators-elect then, failed to abide by the decision of the party during the National Assembly leadership election;
“To find out whether there is any involvement of the ruling Party in the decision taken by the members involved;
“Where there are established reasons for taking the action by members, the committee should identify such so that the party can create mutual and political atmosphere for reasonable interaction with Senators and Honourable members;
“To find out and recommend ways to checkmate such tendencies in the future and ensure that, moving forward, all members work together to defend the interest of the party at all times and circumstances.”
The probe panel, which has three weeks to complete its assignment, has the following members: former President of the Senate, Senator Adolphus Wabara as Chairman, and PDP’s former National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo as Secretary respectively.
Other members of the panel include; Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Stella Omu, Hon Austin Opara, Senator Abdul Ningi, Hon (Mrs) Margaret Icheen, among others.
