Gbajabiamila, Faleke Battle Over Chief Of Staff, Speakership

Some close allies of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, ahead of the May 29 inauguration are battling for supremacy in his cabinet and the 10th National Assembly.

A source that spoke on the developing issue, claimed that the clash between Tinubu’s allies heightened when the Secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, James Faleke pushed to be appointed as chief of Staff (CoS) to Tinubu.

The source further stated that the battle for the CoS position between Faleke and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has influenced the race for the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.

According to the source, the minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume and the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El- Rufai are in the race for the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation

The source that spoke with NewTelegraph said: “The issues around are too numerous to mention to the public because all those involved are just playing to the gallery and deceiving their followers as if all is well among those of us who are close to the president-elect.

“As we speak, there is no love lust between Gbajabiamila and Faleke because both are deeply involved in the race to be chief of staff. If you observe, both were playing the game quietly initially.

“But when Faleke saw that Gbaja was already seeing himself as chief of staff in waiting, Faleke had to up his game too. Lately, you can see that he has been sponsoring some groups to also canvass for him. ()

“Not only that, they have taken the fight to the issue of speakership in the forthcoming 10th House of Representatives. Even though he has denied it on the surface, everyone knows that Gbaja is supporting and canvassing for Tajudeen Abbas.

“And as a counter-force, Faleke has cleverly refrained from openly supporting any aspirant but waiting for the party to zone so that he can use his supporters to go against whoever Gbaja supports. So it is a waiting game for the two of them and it will be very interesting unless the leader wades in.”