Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said he is ready to work with the new Speaker Yakubu Dogara,who he ran against in the race for speaker.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja after leaving an emergency meeting of some lawmakers and the national working committee of the party on Thursday, Gbajabiamila acknowledged Dogara as the nation’s number four citizen.
“We will work with the leadership of the House and with the speaker for as long as the party’s programmes are properly articulated and pursued on the floor of the house,” he said.
“He is an APC member but not the speaker of the APC but of the house of representatives of the country. So we will work with him and support him.”
Responding to the decision of the APC to sanction the lawmakers that defied its instruction during the election, Gbajabiamila stated that the move was sparked by the need to instil discipline in the party’s quarters.
“Whatever the party decides to do, that’s for the party; it’s not for me to speak about it,” he said.
“All I know is that in every association there must be discipline.”
Also voicing his thoughts on the issue, Mohammed Monguno, the party’s choice candidate for the deputy
speakership described the situation in the lower chamber as a reality that APC must rise to face.
“As it is now, that is the reality on the ground and we have to deal with it,” he said. As loyal party members, we will not take any step that is going to affect the interest, peace, order and good governance of this country.
“The emergence of the leadership of the national assembly is a reality on ground as far as the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria is concerned.”
