Opposition Reps-elect vow to contest House leadership

The coalition of members-elect of the House of Representatives in the minority parties has finally declared its bid for the office of the Speaker in the 10th National Assembly.

Arising from a closed-door meeting in Abuja on Thursday night, the minority caucus stated that it was out to contest the speakership seat with the All Progressives Congress, claiming that the ruling party lost its majority status in the 10th House after the supplementary 2023 general elections.

A prominent member of the House in the Peoples Democratic Party who had on Tuesday told our correspondent that there were “interesting times ahead,” forwarded the resolutions reached at the meeting.

The resolution partly read, “Buoyed by its numerical superiority in the 10th House of Representatives, the emergent minority caucus, ‘Greater Majority,’ has resolved to gun for the speakership position. Following the outcome of last Saturday’s supplementary elections, membership of the minority caucus has swollen to 182, one vote more than the statutory benchmark required to elect a speaker – with prospects of gaining more members.

"Already, there are permutations to promote a speakership candidate from the South-South geopolitical zone and a deputy speaker from the North-West.

“Rising from an emergency meeting of the minority caucus leadership held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the caucus, made up of seven political parties, stated emphatically that it was primed to contest the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 10th National Assembly.”

The opposition lawmakers argued that the 1999 Constitution “imbues every elected member with the statutory right to gun for any position, subject to the standing orders of the House."

The members-elect added, “Besides the issue of ranking, every member is entitled to run for the office of Speaker, regardless of political party affiliation.

“The APC or, indeed, any political party for that matter, reserves the right to regale itself with talks about micro-zoning leadership positions in the National Assembly. But the overriding question remains, are such fanciful engagements binding on the generality of members-elect?

"The answer today, tomorrow and until our current Constitution is altered to reflect that desire is a big no.”

The members-elect of the House on the platform of opposition parties had on April 4, 2023, formed an alliance ahead of the inauguration of the 10th Assembly, to determine not only the leadership of the minority caucus but also the parliament.

Another major political alliance had emerged in the House of Representatives about two weeks after, when a ranking member of the ruling APC and another raking member in the opposition PDP jointly issued a statement in Abuja to announce another group of members-elect across party lines, claiming that 283 members-elect of the House had resolved to abide by the zoning plan of the ruling party.

There are 360 members in the House.

Aspirants for the office of the Speaker in the 10th Assembly, some of whom have yet to officially declare their ambitions, are now over 10. They are seeking to succeed the incumbent Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was reelected for a sixth term.

The contenders include the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase (North-Central); embattled Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa (North-West); Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi (North-Central); Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara (North-East); Chairman, House Committee on Science Research Institutes, Olaide Akinremi (South-West); Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu (South-East); and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbas (North-West).

Others are the Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Abdulraheem Olawuyi (North-Central); Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli (North-West); Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Makki Yalleman (North-West); and Sani Jaji (North-West).

The president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is from Lagos in the South-West, while the vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima, is from Borno State in the North-East.