Henry Umoren
14 January 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA – FORMER Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, acting National Chairman of the party, Abubakar Baraje and other party leaders Friday visited the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, asking him to drop last Sunday’s decision of the house on the petrol price increase.
Apart from the PDP chiefs, Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, also reportedly met the Speaker separately, in a bid to convince him to get the House change its decision on the matter. Oshiomhole, former national president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), was in the forefront of opposing anti-people policies before he became governor.
Anenih, who led members of the PDP National Working Committee to the Speaker at 4pm, told Tambuwal that the decision of the House was not palatable to the party as the removal of fuel subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan was the party’s decision.
The House of Representatives, had in an emergency session last Sunday, January 8, passed a motion urging President Jonathan to stay action on the deregulation policy in line with the mood of Nigerians and the nation.
But a source said Anenih and other PDP leaders failed to convince the Speaker, as he was said to have told them that what took place in the House cut across party lines as all the political parties were involved.
When PDP leaders departed, it was gathered that Governor Oshiomhole and Alhaji Dangote also went into a marathon meeting with the Speaker, with a bid to convince him and the House to change the decision.
When contacted to speak on the visits, Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Imam Imam who admitted that his boss received the visitors, said, ‘’the Speaker is a stakeholder in the Nigeria project, it is not surprising if prominent Nigerians from all walks of life visit him to confer on issues affecting the country.”
