NASS above Southwest politics – Kwara Reps
- nationalpilot
- Jul 23, 2015
- 2 min read
A member representing Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun Federal Constituency on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), Honourable Tope Olayonu, has decried the promotion of regional politics being encouraged by some southwest lawmakers in the National Assembly.
Olayonu, who spoke with Pilot Politics through a telephone interview from Abuja said the National Assembly is above the primordial sentiment of some leaders of the party, who are trying to use their influence to legalise irregularity in the party cloaked in the name of party supremacy.
It would be recalled that members of the Hon Yakubu Dogara's group and Hon Femi Gbajabiamila's faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been at logger heads over the composition of principal officers of the House.
After the inauguration of the House of Representatives on June 9, Olayonu argued that all deliberation at the floor of the House cease to be party affairs only but nationalistic in outlook because of the composition of the house.
He, therefore, warned his colleagues, especially Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, to jettisoned selfish and regional politics, which has so far only succeeded in dragging the House of Representatives back, adding that some of his loyalists will regret their actions at the end of the day.
Nigerians, he said, would find it very difficult to forgive them if the 8th National Assembly fell short of the huge expectations of the masses.
“This is all about Nigeria and not about Southwest. Our group has conceded the position of the majority leader to his (Gbajabiamila) group on the basis that it must not be given to anybody from the southwest.
“Our position was informed by the need to move the house forward and reflect the principle of federal character in the allocation of positions in the House, which is very important to balance the situation and foster peace.
“I don't know why Gbajabiamila is hell bent that it must be him that will assume the position instead of somebody else from another region among his loyalists.
“This is simply a manifestation of the promotion of regional politics against nationalism, which is being sponsored by some certain leaders in the APC.
“If we don't resolve to collectively move the country forward and fail the teeming masses who have invested very high hope on us, God and Nigerians will not forgive us.
“And at the end of the day, most of his loyalist among the lawmakers will regret their actions. Are they now using the house to fight Nigerians that voted them in the first place”, he queried.
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