The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC has halted the ambitions of Adulrazak Namdas(Adamawa), Umar Bago(Niger), John Dyegh(Benue), Abdulrahman Sumaila( Kano) Ahmed Wase (Plateau) and Mohamad Monguno (Borno) of becoming Speaker of the 9th Assembly of the House of Representatives.
This is as the party Tuesday night adopted Femi Gbajabiamila(Lagos) as its candidate for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly.
Others whose ambitions have been cut short the adoption of Gbajabiamila include; Olusegun Odebunmi (Oyo), Khajidat Bukar-Ibrahim (Yobe) and Yakub Buba (Adamawa), Alhassan Ado-Doguwa (Kano), Umar Bago (Niger), Babangida Ibrahim-Mahuta (Katsina), Nkiruka Onyejeocha (Abia), Suleiman Aminu (Kano), Abubakar Lado (Niger) and Muhammed Kazaure (Jigawa) who have indicated interest for the position.
Lanre Issa- Onilu, APC National Publicity Secretary disclosed that the decision was reached after deliberation with the APC’s House of Representatives members-elect at a dinner with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Banquet Hall of Aso Villa.
“APC has adopted Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as its candidate for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly.
“This position was reached after an intensive deliberation with the APC’s House of Representatives members-elect at a dinner with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Banquet Hall of Aso Villa.
“The Deputy Speaker position has been zoned to the North Central”, Onilu said.
But contrary to the APC decision to adopt Gbajabiamila from South-West and zoned the Deputy Speaker to the North-Central, the party’s North-Central caucus in the House of Representatives had insisted that office of Speaker of the House should be ceded to.
According to the North-Central APC caucus, the zone deserved the position for equity justice and reward as President Muhammadu Buhari is from North-West, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo is from South-West(as Gbajabiamila), and the party has adopted Lawan from North-East for Senate President while it is the third zone where Buhari/APC got the highest number of votes at the last general elections.
John Dyegh, leader of the group had demanded that for justice and fair play, the position should be zoned to the Central to make it have sense of belonging.
“We the members of the North Central Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives called this briefing to express our position with respect to the leadership position of the 9th assembly.
“It is in this regard that we humbly wish to appeal to our great party, the APC, to strongly consider the North Central geo-political zone for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th assembly. Our position is based on the fOllowing reasons:
“Zoning the position of speaker to the North Central will satisfy and advance the cause of equity since the North-west and South-west already have the presidency and vice presidency respectively.
“We note that apart from the North West and North-East, the North Central zone delivered handsomely for the party in the general elections and as such needs to be rewarded for the hard Work and loyalty.
“The need to ensure balance and spread between and among the six geo-politicai zones has made it imperative to give prime consideration to the North Central zone to produce the position of speaker. Being the zone with delicate and peculiar location and challenges within the federation, it is of utmost importance to carry us along in the hierarchy of power distribution in the country as this will in no small measure, help in stabilizing the polity.
“It is not by coincidence that the Nigerian constitution enshrines federal character in the distribution of offices and leadership positions in the country. Section 14(4) of the grundnorm speaks eloquently to this fact. The North Central geopoiitical zone would feel a sense of belonging if it is allowed to produce the speaker in the next assembly.
“While we believe the reasons advanced above are very cogent and persuasive enough, we reiterate that our call for the North Central to produce the next speaker of the House is an appeal to the sense of justice, fairness and equity of our great party”, Dyegh maintained.
James Kwen
