Stop interfering in House of Reps caucus affairs, Arewa group tells PDP

Following the ongoing leadership crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives with regard to the office of the Minority Leader, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has been cautioned against interfering in the affairs of the PDP caucus to avoid distraction in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities of legislation.

The warning was made by a socio-cultural and political pressure group, the Arewa Youth for Peace and Security(AYPS) which called on the Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to sanction Hon. Kingsley Chinda, Hon. Yakubu Barde, Hon. Chukwuka Onyema and Hon. Muraina Ajibola from further parading themselves as leaders of the PDP caucus at the House of Representatives.

National Chairman of the group, Alhaji Salisu Magaji who made the call on Wednesday during a Press Conference held at Zaranda Hotel, Bauchi, was reacting to the statement credited to the NWC of PDP over its position on the PDP caucus at the House of Representatives.

The AYPS in his reaction criticised the PDP’s continued decision to suspend the House Minority Leader, Hon Ndudi Elumelu, and six other members of the party in the House of Representatives, calling on the party to immediately withdraw the suspension of Elumelu and allow the Minority Leader to assume his leadership role.

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According to him: “We are calling on the leadership of the House of Representatives under Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila to sanction those PDP members including Hon. Kingsley Chinda, Hon. Yakubu Barde, Hon. Chukwuka Onyema and Hon. Muraina Ajibola. who are parading themselves as leaders of the PDP caucus in the House.”

The AYPS chairman expressed regrets that the party suspended Elumelu and the six others without giving them a fair hearing, saying that: “Elumelu has been in the House for many years and he has delivered. He was not elected by the PDP alone. He was elected by the people of his constituency. He is there representing his people, not the party”.

Salisu Magaji added: “True he contested on the platform of the party, but the members of the National Assembly have the power to elect who they feel should be their leaders, so the PDP has to know that. We don’t understand why they are holding a meeting and suspending members. It is uncalled for.

“We call on the party to withdraw the suspension and allow the authentic leadership of Minority of the PDP Elumelu to continue. Elumelu is a grassroots politician and mobiliser,” he pleaded.

It would be recalled that the NWC of PDP recently in a unanimous decision conveyed in a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, noted that “the suspension placed on some PDP members who connived with others to supplant the party decision with regards to party positions in the House is subsisting and has not been lifted”.