"You have to be firm. You have to be loyal to your country first. Then, the party. (Be) loyal to the country because it is when you have a country that you can even exist as a lawmaker."
Umar Damagum, the acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has asked the House of Representatives members elected on the platform of the PDP to stay loyal to the party.
Mr Damagum stated this on Tuesday during a meeting in Abuja with the members-elect of the House on the pending election of the leadership of the National Assembly.
The meeting comes as the campaign for the speaker and deputy speaker of the 10th House continues.
The PDP, which has 116 members-elect, appears to be divided on the speakership race. Several members of the party have joined the joint-task coalition - a group of lawmakers that have committed to working with the ruling party on zoning.
Kingsley Chinda, a PDP member of the House from Rivers State, is the co-chairman of the coalition.
While speaking on loyalty to the party and country, Mr Damagum acknowledged that the party is going through internal crisis but noted that has the capacity to deal with its internal crisis.
"You have to be firm. You have to be loyal to your country first. Then, the party. (Be) loyal to the country because it is when you have a country that you can even exist as a lawmaker. To the party, it is because most of you that have spoken have been grateful for the party to have given you the platform to be here today. So, the party expects nothing less from you other than to be a loyal party member."
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"One thing I want to assure you is that the PDP has the mechanism to solve its problems," he stated.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Fred Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa), said the meeting was convened to deliberate on the National Assembly leadership.
He noted that the deliberation with other minority parties has been fruitful.
"We have been meeting on our own, in one way or the other, even in our larger minority caucus. A number of us have attended those meetings and we had fruitful discussions.
"We are still journeying on towards the 13th of June and we believe that it is important to call ourselves together and to invite our chairman and members of the committee to come and tete-a-tete with us, guide us, advise us and direct us where necessary as we journey to the 13th of June, 2023," he said
The 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated on 13 June.
