The new PDP (APC) Getting more Members, 40 Senators, over 100 reps

NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that the opposition alliance group, All Progressives Congress (APC) is yet to secure its registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), indications have emerged that the merger platform has kick-started a move to take over the National Assembly.

A combination of all opposition legislators in the present configuration will give the party only one third of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

But information at the disposal of the Nigerian Tribune indicated that the APC has set up different teams at the state and at the national levels to lobby Senators and members of the House of Representatives who belong to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While the objective is to ensure a strong footing for the merger party  and quicken the possibility of its winning the presidency in 2015, the party also has the objective of securing a majority in the National Assembly ahead of the next general election.

Sources said that the main beneficiary of the planned hijack of the National Assembly may be the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

It was gathered that Tambuwal may remain as Speaker after the APC would have engineered the defection of no fewer than 100 members of the House to its camp.

Some sources told the Nigerian Tribune that besides the team working on House members and Senators in Abuja, a number of lobbyists are also being deployed to serving Senators in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Adamawa  Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Kwara and Niger states.

While some of the Senators and members of the House are being offered automatic tickets to retain their seats, others who have indicated intention to contest gubernatorial seats are also being promised the ticket.

Some of the lawmakers who have been approached both at Abuja and their home states told the Nigerian Tribune that the APC lobbyists are very serious.

A Senator, who is interested in returning to the Senate in 2015, has been offered automatic ticket.