Ahead of the June 13 inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of plotting to intimidate and arrest lawmakers-elect seen as championing the independence of the legislature to influence the choice of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The party stated this barely 24 hours after boasting that it would leverage the number of lawmakers elected on the platform of opposition parties to determine the leadership of both houses.
Addressing newsmen at the party’s national secretariat on Saturday, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba noted that the PDP is aware that the ruling party had become jittery since it made its position known last week on the headship of the 10th federal parliament.
He said, “Information at our disposal which are verifiable and some of which we got from your report, is that there are attempts by some APC elements to intimIdate, harass and threaten lawmakers-elect with a view to influencing the outcome of the election on Tuesday on the floor of both houses as to who emerges the Speaker and the President of the Senate.
“There are reports of harassment to arrest those people who are considered to be strong proponents of the Independence of the legislature and who are at the forefront of the need to respect those standing rules that provide that members-elect should elect their own leadership without any external influence.
“We have these reported actions and plots to arrest such individuals. We as a party that believes in democracy and that had the privilege of midwifing this our democracy for 16 years recognises the fact that the legislature is an ingredient that is very important and key to the sustenance of democracy. So, we need to raise an alarm to bring to the fore where the situation is at the moment,” Ologunagba said.
According to the publicity scribe, “The legislature remains the symbol of democracy in a constitutional democracy in the sense that it is regarded as the people’s house where people are elected from all the constituencies in the country as a component of the country to speak for their people.
Credit: The PUNCH.
