Opposition Members-elect Can’t Decide Next Speaker – Kalu

The spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said the opposition members-elect cannot determine the next Speaker in the 10th National Assembly.

Naija News earlier reported that the opposition members-elect, who unanimously formed a group called Greater Majority’, met on Tuesday to work together to influence the election of the next leaders of the Green Chamber.

The opposition members-elect also met to fine-tune strategies for using their numbers as bargaining power in their negotiations with the speakership aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Present at the meeting in Abuja were the old and new members-elect of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

Speaking with The Punch on Wednesday, Kalu, one of the aspirants for the speakership position, said the majority status would be determined by the number of a party and not a coalition of parties.

The Abia State lawmaker and member of the APC said the House Rule is very clear with regard to who forms the majority, who becomes the speaker, and from which party.

He said, “The House Rule is very clear with regards to who forms the majority and who becomes the speaker and from where. I am sure that when the House Rule speaks about the majority, it speaks about a single party, not a coalition of minority parties coming together. That is a different thing.

“The minority parties coming together can form a caucus with minority leadership. But to use that as a formula to determine the Speaker, based on our House Rule, it might be difficult.”