The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has endorsed Senator Ali Ndume and Umar Bago for Senate president and speaker of House of Representatives respectively ahead of National Assembly inauguration on Tuesday.
A statement issued by the party’s national secretary, Senator Umar Tsauri, disclosed that “the final resolution on Senator Ndume and Hon. Bago was reached at the end of a decisive meeting of members of the National Working Committee, party leaders, state governors as well as senators and members-elect on the platform of the PDP.”
Ndume and Bago are of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which has settled for Senator Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila as Senate president and House speaker respectively.
PDP said its decision to support Ndume and Bago “is in the best interest of the nation, in line with our party’s determination to deepen democracy, ensure a strong and independent legislature, strict compliance with the principle of separation of powers as well as constitutional checks and balances in the polity.”
It advised all senators and House members elected on its platform to act accordingly.
The PDP is attempting a repeat of 2015 when its members voted for Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate president and House leader.
Saraki and Dogara led a NASS that was constantly in opposition to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led executive.
Both men eventually defected from APC to PDP.
