The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, has vowed that the party will not field ‘opportunists’ who seek to use the party’s platform to pursue their selfish interests in 2019.
He said the APC had learnt from its past mistakes and would not take for granted the powers of National Assembly.
Oshiomhole said this while addressing members of the APC Governorship and National Assembly screening committees in Abuja, on Monday.
According to him, the ruling party will henceforth make amends by ensuring that “bread and butter politicians” were not given the party’s tickets to contest the forthcoming general elections.
The APC National Chairman again accused two Principal Officers of the National Assembly; Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara of placing personal interests over national interest.
He said, “We do not want to field opportunists who are simply seeking a political vehicle for some selfish purposes.
“What has happened in recent past is enough for us to begin to look at the character of those who are seeking office in the APC platform.
“If before now we have taken for granted the powers of the National Assembly, how those powers can be used for national goals and how it can also be misused to undermine national progress.
“The current situation we are facing here, where two principal officers have chosen to put their personal interests over and above the national interest.
“Refusing to consider budget meant for physical infrastructure. Budget meant to re-order the way our budget is executed, to move money away from consumption, which recurrent expenditure represents, to capital projects, which will benefit our people.
“Henceforth, only persons with the intellectual capacity to carry out oversight functions to ensure that Nigerians get value for money would be those considered worthy of the party’s tickets.”
He also said it was sad that the National Assembly was delaying the passage of the budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2019 elections.
He further assured the 57 senators, who remained faithful to the party during the trying times will not be abandoned.
“For us as a party, we have chosen to learn from the positive lessons from this development so that we do not repeat those mistakes by selecting people who as far as human capacity is we can assess and predict that if elected, they will remain faithful not only to our party but more importantly to the Nigerian nation.
“As we speak, I am proud that we have 57 senators who have refused to be induced or misled or otherwise manipulated into moving to other parties or reward for juicy positions.
“It will be ungodly for us as a party not to reward those who believe in the party and the government of the day led by President Muhammadu Buhari,” Oshiomhole added.
