The All Progressive Congress (APC) declined appointing officials for the National Assembly’s remaining offices.
The party said consultations are underway in a declaration by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, after which the decision of the party on the appointments will be officially announced.
“Our attention has been drawn to a report in circulation purporting the appointment of the remaining principal officers of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 9th National Assembly.
“The report is false and should be disregarded.
“In arriving at party decisions and indeed in all our activities, we have always been transparent, ensuring the best democratic principles are adhered to in whatever steps we take,” part of the statement read.
The party also encouraged the media “always wait for and rely on official statements from the party other than unofficial sources.”
After electing the Senate President and his deputy as well as the House of Representatives Speaker and his deputy, there are 16 other sensitive positions, eight for each chamber, to be occupied.
They are Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip, Minority Leader and Deputy Minority Whip.
The governing APC will hold eight majority positions while eight minority positions will be held by the opposition parties, primarily the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
After thorough consultations, the parties will fill in the slots.
To guarantee balance in the selection process, most of the positions will be zoned to different areas.
The PDP had nominated contenders for the positions of the Senate minority officers, but the list of their ‘ main ‘ officers in the House of Representatives has yet to be released.
The party appointed the Minority Leader as Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) and the Deputy Minority Leader as Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South).
The party also selected as the Minority Whip the FCT senator, Phillip Aduda.
It is expected that the parties involved in the selection process will send the list of chief officers to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, who will then make the announcements to the plenary on Tuesday.
