9th NASS: Party supremacy won’t work—-Tony Momoh

&NewLine;<p>Prince Tony Momoh&comma; former Minister of Information and Culture and former national chairman of Buhari&&num;8217&semi;s Congress for Progressive Change&comma; CPC&comma; has come out hard on those advocating for respect for party supremacy in selecting leadership of the 9th National Assembly&period; He says it won&&num;8217&semi;t work&period;<br> Momoh disclosed this in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists on the occasion of his 8th birthday&period;<br> He said that the reliance of the APC on party supremacy to impose its candidates would not work&period; He said that claims of party supremacy could only be effective in a parliamentary&comma; not presidential system of government because the political party with the majority would always form the government in the former&period; Momoh recalled that since 1999&comma; efforts by political parties to impose their candidates on the nation’s parliament had always been resisted by federal lawmakers&period; He added that the National Assembly had its own personality that it always protected&comma; in spite of political party differences&comma; adding that the party’s choice could only succeed if there was cooperation and not by imposition&period; <br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In 1999&comma; Evans Enwerem was not the choice of the senators&period; They wanted Chuba Okadigbo&period; So&comma; Enwerem did not last when he emerged&period; Also in 2015&comma; the party wanted Femi Gbajabiamila but Yakubu Dogara got it&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Since 1999&comma; there have always been problems between the legislators and the party’s candidates&period; The legislators come together to pursue common interests and party supremacy is obviously not one of them&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In the parliamentary system&comma; the party with the majority will dominate leadership positions in the parliament&period; The prime minister is also a member of the parliament&period;” <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Momoh was born on 27 April 1939 in Auchi&comma; Edo state&period; The 165th child of King Momoh I of Auchi&comma; he attended Government School Auchi between 1949–1954 and Anglican School Okpe 1954&period;<br>&NewLine;He later went to the Provincial Teachers Training College&comma; Abudu&comma; and Government Teachers College&comma; Abraka in Western Region between 1960–1961&period; <br>&NewLine;He thereafter attended the University of Nigeria&comma; Nsukka &lpar;September 1964 – October 1966&rpar; where he earned a degree in Mass communication&comma; and then the University of Lagos where he studied Law&period; He attended the Nigerian Law School&comma; Lagos from October 1974 to May 1975 and was called to the bar in June 1975&period;<br>&NewLine;He is married with children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;