Wase, Abbas, Kalu, And Others Intensify Lobby

The battle for the speakership of the 10th national assembly is heating up as those aspiring for the seat are actively lobbying all necessary stakeholders for the 4th highest office in the land.

Since the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the presidential election in the just concluded 2023 general election and also won the majority of seats, the APC is expected to produce the speaker of the 10th national assembly.

The major aspirants for the Speakership

The 10th assembly came with a very interesting setup especially the House of Representatives in which the majority of the returning members are new members which means that most of the old members have lost their seats.

Based on the concluded constituency elections, out of the 360 expected members of the House of Representatives, 280 members are coming to the House for the first time in the 10th assembly. This means that if these new members work together, they might decide the direction of the new assembly.

Notwithstanding, based on the power structure of the assembly, none of the new members can contest to be speakers. Hence, some of the old members who succeeded in returning to the house have stepped up their campaign for the seat ahead of June 2023 when the new assembly will be inaugurated.

Some of the members who have declared interest in the seat include the out-going Deputy Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase and Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, both from Plateau State in North Central; Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betera from Borno State in North East, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, Ph.D. from Kaduna State, Hon. Sanni Jaji from Zamfara and Hon. Sada Soli from Katsina State, all in the North West and Hon. Benjamin Kalu from Abia State in South East.

Naija News gathered that there could be more candidates for the seat once the APC decides on zoning the seat.

Zoning?

Based on the fact that the South West has produced the president-elect, and the Northeast has produced the Vice President-elect, there are speculations that the APC might zone the Speakership of the house to either South South or South East. There is however speculations that the party might decide to leave it open in line with the desires of some elected members of the house.

However, there are speculations that the members of the northwest think that the sub-region deserves the speakership because the zone contributed heavily to the emergence of the president-elect in the just concluded presidential election.

The north central is also pushing for the seat even though the current chairman of the APC is from that zone.

All the same, it is the party’s decision that will settle the issue of the zoning which would certainly streamline the number of candidates for the seat. Before then, the lobbying for the seat will continue to wax stronger.

Lobbying Intensifies

While other aspirants wait for the APC to announce the zoning for the speakership, other aspirants have intensified their push for attention.

Reports claimed that aspirants from the North Central and South East geo-political zones have intensified their efforts to convince the leadership of the APC to zone the seat to their sub-region.

The basics for their lobbying is that the zones have not produced a speaker, hence, it ought to be their turn in the 10th assembly.

Amidst that, the opposition parties especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), and Labour Party (LP) are pushing to have their say in the whole arrangement.

As mentioned earlier, some members of the APC are looking forward to pushing the party to zone the Speakership to the north-central.

Leading the push for the Speakership to be zoned to the north central is Yusuf Adamu Gagdi who believes that it would be unjust if the seat is zoned to any other zone.

“People may say that because they have the right to do that”, he told The Nations. “But it has always been zoned. Why do they want to throw it open this time around?

“Why was the presidency zoned? And the speakership is not supposed to be zoned? I think people have a right to say what they want to say, but the ideal thing is for us to do zoning.

“I am a party man. Wherever the party zones it, I will respect the position of the party. But I expect the party to put superior justice to bear.”

Also, the southeast frontrunner for the Speakership, Hon. Benjamin Kalu has urged his colleagues to look beyond regional politics and elect a speaker that would safeguard the independence of the house.

“Beyond the region, what I believe Nigerians are looking for is that speaker that will come on board and sustain Speaker’s impartiality that we have enjoyed in the 9th Assembly”, he told The Nations.

“They are looking for a legislature that will be led by a Speaker that will understand that though we are diverse, the diversity is not an impediment, but a beautiful coloration to our nation.

“We need a sensitive person to our diversity, a Speaker that will increase parliamentary sovereignty where the independence of the parliament will be showcased better than the 9th Assembly has struggled.

“We need a Speaker that will increase institutional trust, increase the credibility and knowledge base legislative interventions that will gladden the heart of Nigerians to understand that this is the fulcrum of democracy.

“Nigerians are also looking for a Speaker that will balance the various inequalities, especially during plenary. A voice of a constituency heard during plenary is a problem solved for that constituency.”

Amidst that, there are reports that the outgoing governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai is pushing for Abbas Tajudeen, the Iyan Zazzau, to replace Gbajabiamila in the 10th assembly.

He was quoted as saying, ”If at all I contributed to his (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) success in the election, the only payback is for the Iyan Zazzau to become Speaker”.

On the other hand, Wase recently confirmed on his Twitter handle @HonAhmedWase that he had visited the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi to obtain his blessings for the Speakership seat.

Hence, as it stands, almost every zone, apart from the southwest that produced the president-elect, is interested in the speakership. Things are expected to get clearer in the coming days.