In furtherance of his quest to ensure that the emergent 10th Assembly of the House of Representatives does not take off on a turbulent note, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt.Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila this afternoon met with leaders of the “Greater Majority.”
The group, a coalition of the seven opposition political parties in the incoming 10th Assembly, was led by Rt. Hon. Nicholas Mutu.
Others, who accompanied him included Honourables Fred Agbedi, Convener, “Greater Majority,” Wole Oke, Ali Isa, Dennis Agbo, Mansur Soro and Kabiru Ahmadu.
Spokespersons of the Opposition, Honourables Dachung Bagos and Afam Ogene were also part of the delegation.
The parley with Speaker Gbajabiamila is the climax of a series of interface which the “Greater Majority” has had with all those aspiring to lead the House.
During the talks, during which frank exchanges were shared, all sides agreed to embark on consensus building, in the interest of the institution of the legislature.
Also, Ahead of the proclamation of the 10th National Assembly by the yet to be sworn in-President-elect Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday June 13, 2023 eight political parties that won legislative seats into the parliament have adopted the All Progressives Congress APC’s Consensus option in the election of principal officers.
This is as the out-going Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon.Femi Gbajabiamila has said that his support for the APC’s anointed candidates for the presiding officers of both the Senate and House of Representatives is to safeguard the achievements of the 9th National Assembly.
It would be recalled that the ruling All Progressives Congress APC had a fortnight ago chosen Sen.Godswill Akpabio and Sen.Barau Jibrin as well as Hon Dr.Tajudeen Abbas and Hon.Benjamin Kalu as the party’s consensus candidates for the offices.
Speaking at at a parley organized by the Joint Task Team comprising of eight minority political parties and the APC, the Speaker said that the the ruling party made a wise choice in the announcement of Hon.Abbas and his deputy Hon.Kalu describing them as seasoned and good parliamentarians.
He noted that the speaker designate Hon.Abbas is the lawmaker with 76 bills sponsored bills out of which 21 had been assented to in the life of the current 9th Assembly a feat that is unprecedented.
He said: ” I decided to support the least person close to me among the Aspirants for speaker of the House due to his capacity”
He assured that through legislative interventions inequalities,p overty, youth unemployment and other social vices would receive immediate attention in terms of lawmaking and oversight.
Other contestants for the for the office of the Speaker including the House Leader Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Hon Makky Yalleman and Hon Abdulraheem Olawuyi said that they are stepping down from the contest to respect the party’s choice.
Earlier the Senate-President designate Sen.Godwill Obot Akpabio thanked the members of the Joint Task Team for supporting his candidature for the office
He also said that the 10th National Assembly will be anchored on effective lawmaking, representation and oversight of ministries departments and agencies of the federal government.
However, The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ado Doguwa and five other aspirants have stepped down from the speaker and deputy speakership race.
The aspirants stepped down at a meeting of members-elect under the auspices of the ‘10th Joint Task’ on Wednesday night in Abuja.
The speakership aspirants, Rep. Ado Doguwa (APC-Kano) Rep. Abdulraheem Olaoye (APC-Ogun) Rep. Makki Yalleman (APC-Jigawa state) stepped down for Rep. Tajudeen Abbas (APC-Kaduna state)
Also, the deputy speakership aspirants, Rep. Abiola Makinde (APC-Ondo) Rep. Francis Waive (APC-Delta) and Rep. Julius Ihonberev (APC-Edo) stepped down for Rep. Benjamin Kalu (APC-Abia)
It could be recalled that the All Progressive Congress (APC) has earlier endorsed Abbas and Kalu for the office of the speaker and deputy respectively.
The endorsement was further strengthened by the Minority Party Forum, a group of about 70 members-elect who announced their support for the duo.
Speaking on behalf of the speakership aspirant, Doguwa said that they had come come to join the Abbas/Kalu campaign.
He said they all wanted to be speaker but they can only one speaker at every given moment saying that they will support the party’s choice.
“I want to say on behalf of these great men around me here, that we have individually and collectively decided surrender our bid to become speaker this time around.
“We have resolved to support our great party and the man they have chosen to be speaker Rep. Tajudeen Abbas,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the deputy speaker aspirants, Rep. Julius Ihonberev said that there is a time when strategies and tactics needed to be adjusted to support a democratic process that would work.
He said that all three of them wanted to deputy speaker, believing that it will be zoned in their favour but it turned out differently.
“As loyal party persons, we decided to align with those that have been identified by the party
The integrate, capacity and ability to carry people along, transparency and the anergy to mobilise ideas that would change Nigeria for the better.
“We want to say we are absolutely, undilutedly in support of the ticket as announced by the party that Rep.Tajudeen Abbas will be our next speaker and Rep. Benjamin Kalu will be the next deputy speaker.
“We want to assure you that we are prepared to do all it takes to ensure the success of this project,” he said.
However, the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, Chairman Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Muktar Betara, Chairman Committee on Water Resources, Rep. Sada Soli, Rep. Mariam Onouha and Rep. Yusuf Gagdi are still in the race.
The National Working Committee, NWC, of the APC, zoned the Senate Presidency of the forthcoming 10th National Assembly to the South-South and the Speakership of the House of Representatives to the North-West.
The party also zoned the Deputy Senate Presidency to the North-West; and Deputy Speakership to the South-East.
Specifically, the party settled for Senators Godswill Akpabio/ Barau Jubrin for Senate leadership and Abass/Kalu for House of Representatives leadership. (NAN)
