Presidency behind house chaos, says PDP

The PDP has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of bias in the crisis rocking the national assembly.

Thursday’s sitting of the house of representatives ended in chaos as members opposed to the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, disrupted proceedings and almost seized the mace.

Dogara, who was elected speaker with the support of PDP, was a member of former ruling party until he defected to the APC in 2014.

In a statement by its spokesman, Olisa Metuh, on Thursday, the PDP described the fracas by “disgruntled APC members” as an ugly development which “brings to question, President Muhammadu Buhari and his party’s commitment to democracy, unity and the stability of the country”.

It said the disgraceful act “is a direct consequence of President Buhari’s lack of democratic credentials to reign in his party to respect the independence and sanctity of the legislative arm of government, the very citadel of democracy, as enshrined in the nation’s constitution.

“The barbaric attempt to physically assault a duly elected Speaker, seize the mace, the authority of the House, is a direct attack on the Nigerian parliament which embodies the supremacy of the people and our freedom as a democratic nation.”

Metuh said what Nigerians witnessed in the house on Thursday “clearly underscores the fact that the APC has exhausted its excuses and has now imported its internal contradictions into an independent arm of government as a way to further cover its lack of ideas for governance”.

“The brawling APC lawmakers ostensibly acted on instructions from the presidency, an obvious indication that President Buhari is largely an interested party whose involvement is beyond mere body language,” he said.

“We state unequivocally that the onus lies on President Buhari to ensure that all democratic institutions are harnessed for effectiveness, a responsibility he has apparently abdicated by allowing his personal interest to instigate division in the parliament, a tendency that poses great threat to the survival of our democracy and the stability of the nation.”

The PDP said the continued confusion in the APC-led government is a confirmation of its earlier stand that the APC lacks the capacity and democratic discipline to effectively steer the ship of nation and face the challenges of governance at the center.

“If a party that has since March 28, 2015 when it got its victory, about 90 days ago, cannot resolve a basic issue of selecting its leadership in the National Assembly, clearly, their competence for national governance comes to question,” the party stated.