Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday called on All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari to allow members of National Assembly to elect their leaders.

It also said that both the President and the ruling party must allow democracy to thrive in National Assembly.

The former ruling party insisted that it would be wrong for APC and the President to force leaders on lawmakers, saying Mr Ali Ndume and others should be allowed to test their popularity among their colleagues.

National Chairman of the PDP, Mr Uche Secondus, who spoke with one of our correspondents on Ndume’s declaration, however, said that his party had yet to take any decision on who to support.

Secondus said, “We believe in multiplicity of ideas. Democracy is having more than one option. Though consensus is part of democracy, when that is not achievable, every contestant or interested person must be allowed to test their popularity. That is the beauty of democracy.

“It is wrong to force lawmakers or coerce them to follow a particular road or a particular candidate who they do not have confidence in. The President and his party should not plant moles as leaders of National Assembly.”

Secondus, therefore, asked members of National Assembly, especially senators, to follow their conscience in choosing who would lead them.

“Ndume and other members of Senate who are qualified to run for the office of President of Senate should be allowed to test their popularity,” he added.

Punch