Sophia Michaels
A new political alliance has been formed in the House of Representatives, according to a report by The PUNCH. This alliance comes two weeks after members-elect of minority parties in the chamber formed a coalition against the All Progressives Congress (APC). On Thursday, a joint statement was issued by a member of the APC and a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to announce the alliance across party lines, claiming that 283 members-elect of the House had agreed to abide by the zoning plan of the ruling party. The statement was signed by Usman Kumo (APC/Gombe) and Kingsley Chinda (PDP/Rivers), as chairman and co-chairman of the alliance, and was titled, ‘10th House: Coalition of Lawmakers-elect Commits to Respect Decision on Zoning…as 283 Lawmakers-elect, Governors, Others Endorse New Forum for a JOINT TASK for a United, Progressive Nigeria.’
The alliance is composed of members-elect from the APC, PDP, Labour Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, Social Democratic Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, African Democratic Congress and the Young Progressive Party. The coalition has the support of 14 APC governors, nine PDP governors, and several National Working Committee members of both the ruling and opposition political parties. The main focus of the coalition is to promote the independence of the legislature; the inter-dependence of the legislature and other arms of the government to legislate for good governance and grassroots impact, constituency outreach, equity and fairness among members-elect as well as unity, equity and fairness in the emergence of presiding and principal officers in line with best parliamentary practice.
