Buhari Won’t Intervene In NASS Crisis- Aide

Following the show of shame that has been trailing the National Assembly, many have wondered why President Buhari has Kept quiet over the issue, finally words have gone out regarding the President’s stand.

Mallam Graba Shehu

Speaking on this issue, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Thursday said President Muhammadu Buhari would not intervene in the leadership crisis currently rocking the National Assembly until the All Progressives Congress’ state governors ask him to do so.

According to The Punch, Shehu made that statement while featuring on Sunrise, a programme of  Channels TV, a Lagos-based private television station.

Shehu said Buhari would only get into the eye of the storm, when the APC state governors inform him that they cannot fix the problem.

READ ALSO: Half-Pay For NASS Members Facing Election Probes- Dr. Onuoha-Bourdex Demands

He said that it was necessary because the governors had during a meeting they held with the President on Tuesday night, promised to resolve  the issue themselves.

“When the governors met with the President, they told him that ‘we are the leaders in our states and we have influence over all of these senators. They come from our places and from us and we can handle it.’

“The President will step into the crisis at the point when the governors say they can no longer fix it.” Shehu said.

“In the event that he decides to intervene, Buhari would not do that to the level of imposing leaders on the lawmakers,” the presidential spokesman added.

He further explained that Buhari’s position on the matter had remained that the National Assembly is an independent arm of government and he would not be seen meddling in their affairs.

He re-emphasized that the governors while advising the President to maintain his posture, asked him to allow them handle the matter their own way.

“The President has a responsibility to the party and to the nation,” Shehu noted.

READ ALSO: No Ministers! Yet Huge Allowances: Nigerians Fume Over NASS Adjournment For 4 Weeks

The president’s aide also said that despite what was currently playing out in the National Assembly, the situation was still under control.

He added that “The President has a responsibility to the party, the President has a responsibility to the nation and as far as we are looking at the situation it has not gotten out of control. It is still within manageable parameters, it is a little storm we will overcome and Nigerians better get used to it.”

In a reaction to a statement credited to the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, that Buhari is not the leader of the party, Shehu made it clear that the President was the leader.

“Does it need to be said? I don’t think it needs to be said that the President is the leader of his party. There’s no question about it,” he declared.

Shehu added that there was a need for Nigerians to understand the basics of politics as the country is no more in the military era when decrees are made by a single leader.

He said:“Politics, as its theory says, is basically about contest for interests and these interests may be fully defined by political party programme, while some of these things may be outside political party programme.”

In conclusion, The presidential spokesman corroborated  Buhari’s claim that he inherited an almost empty treasury.

He challenged Nigerians to ask the former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, to give more insight on the $30billion he claimed the former government left behind.

Meanwhile in another issue regarding the fight at the House of Assembly, Nasiru Sani Zangon Daura, a member of the House of Representatives has come out to give reasons why they fought on the floor of the House of Assembly

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