PDP leaders are autocrats – Tambuwal | National Mirror …warns Reps against early campaigns Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, has decried what he considers the growing autocratic tendencies by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Tambuwal also condemned their aversion to positive inter-party relations. In a speech delivered at the resumed sitting of the House after a two-week recess, Tambuwal said that PDP was bringing up divisive tendencies and causing disunity among politicians and Nigerians by witch hunting its members who are friendly with members of opposing parties. He said: “Preparatory to 2015, many have started introducing political doctrines that are alien to democracy and destructive to peaceful social coexistence in a civilised society. “They are busy fanning the embers of partisan hate and strife. According to this new doctrine, it is a political offence for a member of one political party to exchange greetings with someone in another political party. “It is indeed a heinous crime for one to visit, attend the burial, birthday, coronation, wedding or any such ceremony of someone in an opposing political party. “The proponents of this shameful doctrine not only offend our sensibilities, they constitute an affront on the whole essence of democracy and civilised coexistence and must be halted before they do incalculable damage to our polity. “My dear colleagues, we refuse to be students of this school of thought.” He also warned his colleagues and other politicians to embargo their campaigns and await the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s approval. Tambuwal also advised them to focus on delivering on their mandate of oversight, representation and lawmaking. “It is also appropriate to remind ourselves that beyond the challenges routine to our functions as legislators, an even bigger challenge is fast approaching. I am referring to 2015 and the gathering clouds of politicking. “First, we must resist the temptation to beat the gun, we have an electoral umpire whose gun’s sound we must await; second, we must resist being distracted from the execution of our mandate which is only half done and finally but perhaps more importantly we must make a difference by rising against every attempt to cause disaffection among Nigerians.” The Speaker reflected on how the House resisted PDP’s efforts to exert a firm grip on the lower chamber and went ahead to choose its leaders. According to Tambuwal: “We can all recall with some level of appreciation that when we started out this journey on June 6, 2011, the situation looked terribly daunting and unassailable, given the myriad challenges that stared us in the face. “We instantaneously found ourselves at the crossroads of decision between the law and whims of individuals and cartels on a critical but all important issue as to who determines for us as an institution who our leaders should be. “In togetherness as democrats, we opted to choose our own leaders and God blessed our decision that we were right in our togetherness. “It was a decision about institutional self- identity not of selfish individual aggrandisement.” The Speaker, however, recalled that he inherited a House that suffered public apathy before a collective effort of the legislators redeemed it. “Again, we were in the quagmire of a highly depleted and fast dwindling public image, confidence and goodwill, the process of redemption called for unmitigated self-sacrifice and absolute commitment to the pursuit of the public good. “In togetherness, we willingly chose modesty and self-discipline as a deliberate operating strategy. God, who deciphers the inner conviction of man prospered our cause and thus, while we may not yet have attained the object of total image redemption, in togetherness we are told we have, at least, arrested the drift. “These experiences have shown that there is power in togetherness, that there is accomplishment in togetherness and above all that there is victory in togetherness. “Surely the challenges ahead are more formidable than those gone bye but I am confident that together we can achieve and deliver on our mandate.” Tambuwal also promised to attend to key legislation awaiting passage such as the Constitutional Amendment Bill, the Petroleum Industry Bill, the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill among others, and “step up activity to ensure improved budget performance, probity and good governance generally”. “Accordingly, in a matter of days, the House will suspend plenary and embark on oversight of the 2013 budget implementation.” He also assured that: “As we commence the secondhalf of our tenure, we must sustain our focus on the ultimate objective of dealing decisively with unemployment, poverty and insecurity. “As I observed recently, we must not allow insecurity to overwhelm us in our drive towards economic prosperity. “The Legislative Agenda we fashioned for ourselves has guided us thus far and we hope to stick to it, subject to whatever modification we might effect in view of the mid-term review and inputs received from members of the public.”
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 08:51:28 +0000
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