… APGA, LP strengthen ties with PDP
Indications that the All Progressives Congress, APC, dream of transforming into the majority party in the House of Representatives may not be realised in the immediate future, emerged at the weekend as Labour Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, have shunned entreaties from APC to join their fold.
Following the carpet crossing of 37 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmakers to APC last week, the rank of the party members jumped to 171 while PDP has 167.
There are 10 Labour Party members in the lower chamber of National Assembly, while APGA has five members, Accord Party, AP, four members and Democratic People’s Party, DPP, one member.
In a bid to hit simple majority of 181 members, APGA and Labour Party lawmakers overnight became the beautiful bride in the national assembly with the two leading parties trying to woo them to their sides.
APC leaders are said to have made mouth watering offers, including automatic tickets, to the Labour Party and APGA lawmakers through proxies but the lawmakers have remained resolute to stay loyal to their governors and their party.
On the other hand, the PDP, which appears to have unwritten accord with APGA and Labour Party governors and national leaders, is now reaping bountifully from the long established symbiotic relationship.
A member of the House of Representatives from the South East told the Sunday Pilot exclusively that almost all the PDP lawmakers that joined the APC did not do so on their own volition but were “directed” to decamp by their governors or face the consequences.
According to him, the governors hold the ace at the state level and any disobedience to the directive to decamp from PDP might signal the end of their political carrier.
He admitted that the primary reason why Labour Party and APGA federal lawmakers are giving APC lobbyists cold shoulders is the same reason the 37 lawmakers decamped to the opposition party.
“They do not have minds of their own and they dumped PDP based on the prompting of their governors. The governors are the leaders of the party in their states, so it is not different for Labour Party and APGA”, the lawmaker and chair of a prominent committee said.
The lawmakers ruled out possibility of Labour Party and APGA members succumbing to the pressure being mounted by proxies of APC leaders and stressed that the cordial relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and their governors remain key factor in the unfolding drama.
“And for me, my governor has worked closely with the government at the centre. In order to make our governor and the central government succeeds, we are giving them every support”, he said.
The hard stand of the minority lawmakers has sent APC lawmakers back to the drawing board as it may puncture the awaited change in the leadership structure in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, Sunday Pilot gathered that PDP leaders are in regular contact with Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state and Peter Obi of Anambra state over the development in national assembly.
The governors were said to have reassured PDP leaders that their members in the national assembly will not be infected with the truancy within the PDP camp.
This is coming just as PDP is expected to strike a deal with the party lawmakers from Adamawa state that refused to join Governor Murtala Nyako in APC.
It was gathered that part of the deal is automatic ticket in 2015 for the Adamawa lawmakers for their steadfastness and loyalty to the party despite pressures and inducements from their governor.