PDP enters into an alliance with three parties in bid to keep parliamentary majority

PEOPLE'S Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the National Assembly have entered into an alliance with members of the Labour Party, Accord Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (Apga) in a desperate bid to keep their parliamentary majority.

Called the National Unity Group (NUG), the alliance entered into effect yesterday in the House of Representatives to forestall moves by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to declare itself the majority party in parliament. Following the defection of dozens of PDP legislators, the APC has claimed that it is now the majority party in the National Assembly and has demanded it be given the principal offices to reflect that.

Last week, the APC vowed to ground the federal government unless it was allowed to control the National assembly, saying that it had the votes to block any bills. However, in a swift response, the government has formed the NUG under the slogan No to Anarchy and it vowed to meet the APC’s threat with robust resistance.

At the moment, the APC has 172 official members in the House of Representatives, while the PDP has between 166 and 171 members. Its allies the Labour Party, Apga and the Accord Party have 10, five and four members respectively, so with the alliance, the four parties will have between 185 and 190 members, giving them a slender majority in the 360-member house.

With the APC leadership directing its members to block all government business on the floor of the house, the PDP hopes that its alliance will act as an effective counterweight. Among President Goodluck Jonathan’s urgent legislative proposals before the National Assembly at the moment is the 2014 budget, which the APC had vowed to derail.

Mulikat Akande-Adeola, the PDP's majority leader in the House of Representatives, said: "We want to put it on record that along with the vast majority of Nigerians, we resolutely say no to anarchy, as being fomented by the newly-registered APC. That directive by the APC’s leadership was an act of impunity and the opposition party is trying the patience of Nigerians."

PDP leaders have called on APC lawmakers in the National Assembly to ignore the directive of their party leaders who they have accused of plotting to ground the economy of the country. NUG leaders have vowed to do everything within their powers to stop the APC lawmakers from carrying out the directive.

Hon Akande-Adeola  added: “Any attempt to tamper with the 2014 budget and hence the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration, will 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 with regards to healthcare, schools and universities, agricultural grants and projects, foreign investment promotion, water supplies, road works, utilities and other obligations of Nigeria as a responsible nation, whose duties are enshrined in Chapter II of the 1999 constitution.

“If this budget is not passed, there will be hunger in the land and the APC’s plan for anarchy would have succeeded. While the APC hides under the cover of the political crisis in Rivers State to issue its directive, it ignored the situation in Ekiti and Ogun states, where its factions have violently engaged themselves as sitting APC governors try to foreclose challengers.”

However, the APC caucus in House said it was not afraid of the alliance between the four parties. Minority leader Femi Gbajabiamila, said that by rushing to form an alliance with the three other parties, the PDP had confirmed that it had indeed lost the majority leadership of the House.

He added: “What they have done simply means that the APC has truly made a serious impact. We are not bothered because we will meet on the floor.

"Let PDP not celebrate for too long because you don’t know where the heart of the person you entered into alliance with is. They may identify with you publicly but when it comes to voting in the House, they will vote where their heart is.”

It is expected that a similar arrangement between the PDP and its allies will be entered in the Senate later this week. In the Senate, the Labour Party has three members and Apga has one senator.