The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it is not aware of the appointment of Principal Officers as announced by the tSenate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.
On Tuesday, the President of the Senate, Godswiill Akpabio read a letter in plenary which contained names of new principal officers of the Senate.
They are Senators Opeyemi Bamidele ,APC (Ekiti Central) Majority Leader, Ali Ndume APC, (Borno South) Chief Whip , David Umahi APC, (Ebonyi South) Deputy Leader and Lola Ashiru APC, (Kwara Central) as Deputy Whip.
But the APC National leadership said it was not aware of the emergence of the principal officers in the National Assembly.
The National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullah Adamu who spoke during an interactive meeting with the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) at the party’s national secretariat, said the NWC was not aware of the announcement made in the National Assembly by the Senate President and the Speaker claiming
“I am just hearing as a rumour now from the online media that there have been some announcements in the Senate and House of Representatives. The national headquarters of the party, the NWC has not given any such information or communicated about the choice of officers.
“And until we formally resolve and communicate with them in writing which is the norm and practice, it is not our intention to break away from traditions. So whatever announcement is done is not from this secretariat,” He said
Given Adamu’s account on the NASS snobbing the NWC, it appears all is not well within the ruling party.
Adamu,a former governor of Nasarawa State and a ranked Senator before his emergence as National Chairman of the APC on 26 March 2022 had fallen in and out of favour with the powers that be due to the perceived partisan role he played before the presidential primary.
Adamu had announced Ahmad Lawan, the former Senate President as the consensus candidate of the APC to fly its presidential flag but progressive governors from the North led by Simon Lalong,Nasir El – Rufai, Abubakar Bagudu, Abdullahi Ganduje and others stood their ground for rotation of presidency to the South.
The APC National Chairman was said to have revealed that the then President, Muhammadu Buhari had given him the authority to announce Lawan as his preferred candidate.
Again, when Bola Tinubu emerged against all odds as the party standard bearer, the National Chairman and his NWC claimed that they were being sidelined in the composition of the Tinubu/ Shettima Campaign Council.
Although principal positions in the National Assembly usually have the endorsement of the Party as previous appointments of officers have shown, the lack of communication between the leadership of the NASS and the APC reveals more than the eye can see.
