The Vice National chairman of North West, Dr Salihu Lukman has alleged that his colleagues in the national working committee (NWC) have been offered trailer loads of rice and sugar by highly placed aspirants jostling for the seats of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives to curry their support.
Lukman who raised the alarm during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja maintained that the unwholesome act was akin to votes buying.
Lukman who is a fierce critic of the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led NWC of the party acknowledged that he was approached by party officials to collect his own share of the party food items before he turned it down.
He however declined to mention his colleagues who either initiated the acceptance of the bribe and those who collected the food items.
Calling for the disqualification of the lawmakers behind the unethical conduct, he claimed that the lawmakers behind the act hailed from the northwest geopolitical zone of the country.
He called for the outright disqualification of the aspirants behind the dastard act and punitive measures to be meted out to his colleagues in the NWC who accepted the bribe offer.
Lukman who was the director general of the progressives governors forum (PGF) remarked that the development underlined the need for a code of conduct for those charged with the task of administering the party.
He said the bribery of the food items may not be unconnected with the ongoing lobby by those jostling for the leadership of the National Assembly to not only zone the seats of the speaker and Senate President to their zones but get the endorsement of the party.
Stating that the party is yet to come up with the zoning arrangement for the seats, he acknowledged that stakeholders of the party are already talking and consulting among themselves on the issues.
He noted: “My appeal to our leaders and the NWC is that we have to take every step to stop this unethical conduct in the party. It is so worrying that people aspiring for leadership in the National Assembly are reaching out to NWC members unethically.
“Yes, I am aware of a Senator who is from my zone that sent bags of rice and sugar. There is also another House of Representatives member from my zone aspiring for the seat of the Speaker that sent trailer loads of bags of rice to individual members of NWC
“It is wrong for leaders to engage in such unethical conduct. I have been an advocate of having a code of conduct within the party. It’s not by accident that we found ourselves in the leadership position of the party. Everything needs to be done to sanitize the party.
“Those behind it should be disqualified from contesting the position of leadership in the National Assembly. It is disrespectful to think that some of us can be bribed with rice and sugar. This is a progressive party. I won’t accept a situation where you can criminalize all of us. I won’t accept a situation whereby wrong things would continue to happen in the party.”
