Abbas to Ganduje: Constitute committees to reconcile aggrieved APC members

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, says Abdullahi Ganduje, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), should constitute committees to reconcile aggrieved members of the party.

Speaking at the APC stakeholders’ meeting for the northwest in Kaduna on Sunday, Abbas said a reconciliation would bring more success to the ruling party.

“I want to call on the national chairman and our party executive to ensure peaceful coexistence among all party members,” the speaker said.

“We are bedevilled with many issues in different states and in every local government.

“It is time to draw a line. Elections are over; this is the time for governance. We should forget what has happened; let’s forgive one another; let’s embrace one another.

“I want to suggest to the national chairman, and by extension, the national vice chairman, to, as a matter of urgency, constitute reconciliation committees for the zone and for every state to constitute the same reconciliation committees so that we can make peace and bring those that we may have offended back to the party.”

Abbas also asked Ganduje to use his position to solve the high rate of attrition among national assembly members.

He said members of the ruling party who demonstrate strong performance ought to be granted the chance to run for office again in 2027.

“On the issue of the high turnover of members of the national assembly, this is a golden opportunity under your tenure to ensure that you do everything humanly possible for current (APC) members of the national assembly and state houses of assembly to return in 2027,” the speaker said.

“I need to emphatically mention that the National Assembly is an institution where the older you are in the system, the better you become,” he said.

“Today, the northwest, based on the 2023 elections, is worse off. That is the reason, perhaps, we did not get the kind of prominence we should have gotten. So, let’s ensure that only the worst of us do not get reelected. We should give the competent ones the opportunity to return to the national assembly.”

The speaker also commended President Bola Tinubu for giving some key positions to the northwest, stating that the zone ought to show its appreciation for him by stepping up its efforts in 2027.