The Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has said that the attempt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to choose leaders for the legislators is against Nigeria’s Constitution.
The APC had written a letter to Dogara naming its candidates for principal positions in the House.
The Speaker however said that the directive from the party could not be followed because he is bound by the Constitution.
Dogara made the statement over the weekend while receiving a delegation of legislators, according to Vanguard.
“As leaders, we are bound by the constitution and when we got that directive from the party, we said that we must defend the constitution, we must enforce our rules. It would have harmful effects to the constitution of Nigeria for us to adopt the position of the party,” he said
“Assuming we go ahead to announce the party’s position, which recognises members of the Northeast and Southwest as principal officers which the North-Central members have already made a very strong allegation against APC, what happens?” he added.
“Assuming a court now rules that, the directive of the party breaches the provisions of the constitution relating to federal character, do we now begin to see somebody vacating his official principal position so that we can accommodate the court’s ruling?” Dogara said.
The leadership controversy led to a free-for-all in the House on Thursday, June 25, as lawmakers loyal to the APC clashed with those loyal to Dogara.