-Blank NEWS Online (NIGERIA):
A socio-cultural and political pressure group, the Arewa Youth for Peace and Security (AYPS) has cautioned the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against interfering in the affairs of the PDP caucus of the House of Representatives to avoid distraction in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.
The group also 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.
The National Chairman of the group, Alhaji Salisu Magaji who made the call Tuesday 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.
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.
But 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, and called on the party to immediately withdraw the suspension of Elumelu and allow the Minority Leader to assume his leadership role.
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 regret that the party suspended Elumelu and the six others without giving them a fair hearing.
He said: “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.
“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 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 under Elumelu to continue. Elumelu is a grassroots politician and mobiliser”.
