There are indications that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila played a key role in promoting Tajudeen Abbas for Speaker of the 10th Assembly and Benjamin Kalu for Deputy Speaker.
Abbas’s media team in a statement released claimed that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu selected Abbas as his favoured candidate for Speaker.
The media team quoted Tinubu as saying Abbas has the ability to promote unity and effectiveness and urged all members to support his choice.
The said Tinubu plans to meet with the National Working Committee to make his decision official.
The statement reads, “The president-elect’s choice for Abbas was made because of the unity and co-existence of members elected from different political parties.”
However, some contenders for House Speaker might continue pursuing their aspirations, despite the zoning arrangement.
Outgoing Deputy Speaker Idris Wase and House Committee Chairman on Appropriation Muktar Betara may not accept the party’s position.
They reportedly summoned a meeting with their supporters last night apparently to review the situation and work out strategies to realise their aspirations.
A federal lawmaker who spoke with Leadership on condition of anonymity said, “Both Wase and Betara are not likely to accept the position of the party on zoning. They are likely to ignore the party and press ahead with their aspirations. Two of them are inviting House members to meetings slated for Friday night.
“It’s obvious that they will contest the election despite that the office of the Speaker were not zoned to their areas. We may likely have the scenario of the 8th Assembly when Senator Bukola Saraki contested and emerged Senate president playing out.”
