There are strong indications that several aspirants seeking leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly have rejected the All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidates for the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, and Deputy Speaker positions.
Recall that the APC had earlier announced that the Senate Presidency would be zoned to the South-South and given to Godswill Akpabio, the Deputy Senate Presidency to Jibrin Barau from the North-West, Speakership to Tajudeen Abbas from the North-West, and Deputy Speakership to Benjamin Kalu from the South-East.
However, to calm tensions arising from this zoning arrangement, the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reportedly expressed his preference for the North-Central for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) role.
Sources claim that this decision was in line with Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of offices in the country, the Guardian reports.
The source said: “You will agree with me that this is another powerful position. As I speak to you, the President-elect will appoint somebody from the North Central zone after he is sworn into office by the end of the month.”
However, the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has expressed their dissatisfaction with the APC’s decision to endorse Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
They vowed to render the decision irrelevant, stating that they have the “Greater Majority” with a total of 183 members-elect compared to the APC’s 177, giving them the power to select the next Speaker of the House from among themselves.
In response, the caucus has formed an 11-man committee to shortlist, screen, and recommend aspirants for the Speakership and Deputy Speaker positions.
The committee includes members from different minority parties such as Abdulmumini Jibrin from NNPP, Oluwole Oke from PDP, Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi from SDP, Beni Lar from PDP, and others.
