Oshiomhole slams PDP over Lawan, Gbajabiamila, APC settles for Doguwa as House leader

National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has criticised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its decision to probe how Senate President Ahmed Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila emerged.

Speaking when he received Kano APC delegation led by the deputy governor, Nasiru Gawuna, yesterday, Oshiomhole accused the PDP of violating the basic principles of democracy in the use of secret ballot to elect the presiding officers of the National Assembly.

He wondered why the PDP, which was initially opposed to open ballot, decided to investigate its members that voted against PDP candidates in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“The PDP that was calling for secret ballot because they didn’t want people to know how they voted is now the one conducting enquiries to find out who voted for whom. That is a complete violation of the essence of secret ballot. The idea of secret is that nobody should know who voted for whom.

“Now PDP is going down in history as a party that seeks to investigate how people voted in a secret ballot, and that is a gross violation of the most basic principle of democracy. That is why we are better and different and I am very proud of all of you.”

Oshiomhole also confirmed that the APC has settled for Alhassan Doguwa as leader of the House of Representatives, but Aminu Sulaiman, reportedly Oshiomhole’s candidate, was absent during the parley, which had 22 Kano representatives, as well as senators Barau Jibrin and Kabiru Gaya in attendance.

Flanked by members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), the former Edo state governor disclosed that he would tell Gbajabiamila to announce the decision when the House reconvenes today.

He said the decision to settle for Doguwa was based on the outcome of a broad consultation with members of the House and stakeholders of the party.

Urging Doguwa to carry the members along in the scheme of things, he said the decision was due to the immense contribution of Kano to the victory of APC in the general election.

Said he: “I have been extremely excited by the level of cooperation that members of the two chambers had extended to us because it could have been impossible if they insisted on fighting to finish. It is that mutual respect, loyalty to the party and indeed to our president that made this very easy.”