A multiparty National Unity Group (NUG) has emerged in the House of Representatives to give members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) a good fight, saying “enough is enough”.
The pro-Jonathan group comprises of members representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord Party (AP).
In a statement issued on Monday, members of the group who are not known yet vowed to resist any attempt by their colleagues in the APC to carry out their threat of blocking the passage of the 2014 budget.
The leadership of the APC had last week at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting directed its members in the House and Senate to block the passage of all Executive Bills including the 2014 budget as well as confirmation of ministerial nominees and Service Chiefs.
But, the multiparty group (NUG) described the APC position as untenable and an attempt to seek national relevance by causing anarchy.
The group in the statement noted “That all Nigerians from various walks of life – civil service unions, technocrats and professionals, community leaders and statesmen, market women and rural dwellers, financial analysts and businessmen – have all risen to condemn these directives”.
It reads further, “These series of untenable positions adopted by Nigeria’s newest party – one which people pejoratively call Angry People’s Congress – are not worthy of a party struggling for national relevance. In this sense, its noisiest members need to look back and then look deeply within.
“These latest directives are a provocation and as far as legislative manoeuvres go, they will once again fail. Hence, everything must be done to arrest the APC attempt to turn Nigeria into a laughingstock We the National Unity Group in the House of Reps made up of PDP, Labor, Accord and APGA members, wish to aver as follows:
“That any attempt to tamper with the 2014 budget and hence the Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration, would be met with robust resistance; no Nigerian anywhere will stand by and watch an opposition greedy with mischief and power lust, frustrate the hopes of tens of millions of Nigerians.
“We in the Nigerian Unity Group of the House of Representatives, wish to add our voice to those calling for peace over the tension in Rivers State as mentioned above, and in Ogun State as well as Ekiti. Where APC factions have violently engaged themselves as sitting APC governors try to foreclose challengers. We are also hoping the situation in Kwara, Borno and Kano occasioned by APC thugs forcibly taking measures against the PDP.
“Given the wrong premise upon which they are operating, we dispute the bogus claims of majority status by APC and call on our colleagues in the opposition to always strive to advise their colleagues to obey judicial pronouncements, no matter how unpalatable to their political dreams and ambitions. Section 68 is clear about elected members and their parties – you don’t cross-carpet when and how you like.
“That we fully commend the leadership of the House for the skilful handling of a difficult set of circumstances and continue to urge them to continue to put the interests of the nation ahead at all times.
“Our commitment to the Nigerian Project is irrevocable. We accordingly invite House APC members, our colleagues – and by extension the other Parties in the House – to always strictly seek to add value to our national quest for democracy and development.
“We therefore call on our colleagues whose sense of duty and patriotism remains unquestioned to reject the latest APC “directives” as unpatriotic and bad anti-progressive. They must reject all efforts to destroy the Nigerian economy”.
