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Barely days after the Vice National Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, alleged that some aspirants eyeing prominent positions in the incoming 10th National Assembly had started offering “bribes” in foodstuff to members of the National Working Committee (NWC), there are new concerns that some aspirants may be set for a dollar rain.
Governors under the aegis of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) elected on the platform of the APC in a memo to the country’s newly elected president, Bola Tinubu, alleged that some aspirants had expressed willingness to offer between $500,000 and $1 million per lawmaker in exchange for votes during the election in June.
Without mentioning names, the governors indicated that those involved in the bribery scheme, were members of the ruling party, warning that the “over-investment” by the aspirants may make zoning impossible if action was not taken quickly urgently.
“Indeed, it is being rumoured that one aspirant for the Senate Presidency and another for Speakership are willing to offer as much as $500,000 to $1 million per vote.
“Opposition party members of the National Assembly are being courted with the likelihood of the 2015 situation presenting itself if care is not taken,” the memo read in part, referring to the sour relationship between the leadership of the 8th National Assembly and the executive.
The ruling APC had after the 25 February election, emerged as the party with the majority in the 109-member Senate with its 57 elected senators, but is yet to form a comfortable majority in the 360-member House of Representatives as it currently has about 162 members-elect.
Meanwhile, seven other parties with membership in the 10th session of the House have about 163 members-elect.
A coalition of returning and new members-elect from all political parties that won seats in the parliament under the aegis of “Joint Task – 10th Assembly” has warned members who may want to defy the APC and have a repeat of the 2015 “rebellion” to be ready to face the consequences.
In a statement co-signed respectively by the chairman and co-chairman, Usman Bello Kumo (APC, Gombe) and Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), they said “Nigerians want to see good governance and not grandstanding”.
“Rebellion will deny the incoming Tinubu administration the opportunity to deliver on its mandate and the high expectations from Nigerians, especially under the current ethnic and religious tension in the country,” the group said.
Similarly, the PGF has called for the intervention of Tinubu on the zoning of the principal offices of the federal parliament.