Reps Speaker: Opposition Mounts Against Gbajabiamila

Reps Speaker: Opposition Mounts Against Gbajabiamila

…As Buhari, Oshiomhole Insist on His Candidacy Stakeholders within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) say the choice of House Leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker, House of Representatives in the 9th National Assembly, by the party leadership, negates the principle of justice and fairness. They are therefore galvanising support to scuttle the move. This

…As Buhari, Oshiomhole Insist on His Candidacy

Stakeholders within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) say the choice of House Leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker, House of Representatives in the 9th National Assembly, by the party leadership, negates the principle of justice and fairness. They are therefore galvanising support to scuttle the move.

This is coming days after the party leadership intensified its strategy at ensuring that it produces the leadership of the National Assembly as President Muhammadu Buhari and the party adopted Gbajabiamila, for the position of Speaker, House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly.

The endorsement was given on Tuesday at a dinner organised by President Buhari with all APC members of the House of Representatives-elect, at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. At the dinner, the APC National Chairman of the APC, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, said the party was not ready to share what belonged to it with the opposition party.

Oshiomhole said that new members elected on the platform of the party in the House can also chair committees. According to him, if you are elected, it means you are tested and trusted. “The NWC had a meeting with Reps-elect three weeks ago and it was very revealing, their interventions are a clear confirmation that Nigerians did not make mistake by electing them,” he said.

“Their deep knowledge of the constitution would convince many that they were not first timers but seasoned lawmakers. They all on their own, speaker after speaker, across the zone, pledged to work together for PMB to leave him landmark foundation for a new Nigeria.”

The APC chairman maintained that he was confident that this time around, the party will produce the leadership of the National Assembly, noting that Nigerians were “very hungry for us to deliver on the mandates at the campaigns.”

He described the present leadership of the National Assembly as hostile, saying, “they created tension in the system, delayed budget needlessly, and created all obstacles to frustrate the government.”

“In life mistakes are permitted but it becomes a problem if the mistake is repeated twice. We are determined not to repeat the mistakes of 2015 in 2019, we have learnt our lesson. Out of 223 APC elected members, about 67 were re-elected, the rest are new members.”

“In other climes, you don’t go into coalition when you are in the majority, you do so when you don’t have the numbers. We have the numbers, out of 306, Nigerians elected 223 APC members because they don’t want Mr. President to face the trauma of 2015.”

“Most of those who decamped were rejected and even those who led it were uprooted. We cannot as a party which has a comfortable majority, entrust critical committees in the hands of the PDP or opposition.”

“If Nigerians wanted them, they could have voted them. In the days of PDP, every committee were chaired by PDP members. But due to the selfish and greedy nature of Saraki and Dogara we had a problem achieving that. We do not need to do business with the devil for us to survive in the 9th Assembly.”

“In African family, we sit down in a closed door to address issues, the good news is that there is a role for everyone. Neither Mr President nor the party expects the National Assembly to be rubber stamps, we don’t have rubbers. But we will not fight in Wuse market.”

“Both the re-elected and new members are entitled to heading committees. We have asked our people not to share what belongs to us with other party members. I don’t have apologies against forces of retrogression,” the APC chairman said.

Honourable Abdulmumin Jibril, who spoke to State House correspondents after the meeting, said that Gbajabiamila was adopted as the party’s choice for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives. He also said that the four positions were also zoned to the North Central, South East and South South among others.

But the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, has asked the party leadership not to zone the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the Southwest in the spirit of fairness.

With the Northwest and Southwest having produced the President and Vice President respectively, the APC’s deputy spokesman said the party should ensure that the zoning arrangement for the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 9th National Assembly reflects the remaining four geopolitical regions of the country.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Nabena warned that if the party fails to get it right now, 2023 elections might turn out to be a free for all battle in the ruling party.

“The APC has elected National Assembly members from all geopolitical zones of the country. Hence, the party’s leadership and indeed the presidency must take deliberate efforts to provide a fair and justifiable zoning arrangement for the 9th National Assembly leadership.”

“The zoning arrangement must also respect the fact that the Northwest and Southwest has already produced the President and Vice President respectively. So, for equity and adherence to the principle of federal character which is a constitutional requirement, the positions of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives in the incoming 9th National Assembly must be occupied by APC members from the remaining four geopolitical regions of the country.” he said.

According to the Bayelsa-born APC chieftain, who’s a member of the National Working Committee (NWC), under the leadership of Oshiomhole, the party has already zoned the Senate Presidency to the North-east.

Nabena, however suggested that the party should zone the position of “Deputy Senate President to the South-south while the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives should be zoned to the North-central and South-east in any order agreed by the party’s leadership.”

When reminded that his recommendation was at variance with the aspiration of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila from the Southwest, Nabena said: “The Southwest already has a slot filled by the Vice President. In any case, the Southwest does not necessarily translate to Lagos or Ogun state. This is a sentiment widely shared by our members from the zone.”

“As I earlier stated, the party’s leadership must take deliberate steps to provide a fair and justifiable zoning arrangement for the incoming 9th National Assembly leadership. Our actions and inactions will have serious implications on party unity and positively or negatively affect our standing ahead of 2023.”

The zoning of the Speakership position of the House of Representatives to the Southwest by the APC leadership has also been described as an insult on the north and an affront on the principle of federal character enshrined in the Constitution of Nigeria.

The Northern Youths Movement (NYM) has told Oshiomhole and the party’s National Leader, Mr Bola Tinubu to perish their thought of taking over the National Assembly in preparation for his (Tinubu) presidential ambition in 2023.

According to a release issued in Abuja on Wednesday, which was signed by the NYM Chairman, Mallam Ishaya Jato, the north will resist Oshiomhole and Tinubu’s attempt to zone the House of Representatives Speaker to the Southwest, which already has the Vice President.

The NYM, which reiterated that it had nothing against Gbajabiamila, dismissed the report that President Buhari agreed to the zoning of the Speakership position to the Southwest at the dinner held with APC returning and Reps members-elect.

The group disclosed that President Buhari even had to openly reprimand Oshiomhole for discussing what he described as unnecessary details that were not known to him and that his understanding was that all zones should meet and discuss zoning.

“Our question then is; when did Oshiomhole meet with APC National Working Committee members to arrive at his zoning of the Reps Speaker to the Southwest, a zone that already has the Vice President just as the Northwest has the President?”

“Our understanding of the federal character formula is that with six positions of President, Vice President, Senate President and Deputy as well as Reps Speaker and Deputy available, the six geopolitical zones must get one position each.”

“Since Northwest and Southwest have already taken President and Vice President respectively, the remaining four positions must be shared among the South-South, South East, North Central and North East zones. Anything outside this is against the unity of Nigeria and peaceful coexistence of its people, and we in the Northern Youths Movement will never support that.”

“President Buhari is therefore called upon to be mindful of the scheming of Tinubu through Oshiomhole because this planned handing of two major positions to the Southwest, which produced lesser votes than the North-Central and North-East is an injustice that must not be allowed to happen,” the group said.

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