Confusion As Lawmakers Reject Tinubu’s ‘Anointed Candidate’ For 10th Speakership

Lawmakers have reportedly rejected the anointed candidate of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, for the 10th House of Representatives.

Speculations are that Tinubu had given thumps up for Rep Tajudeen Abbas (APC, Zaria Federal Constituency, Kaduna State) to succeed Femi Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.

Ben Kalu (APC, Bende Federal Constituency, Abia State) was also mentioned as Tinubu’s preferred deputy speaker for the Green Chamber.

Naija News understands that the President-elect’s choice was revealed following obvious preference for Senator Godswill Akpabio (APC, Akwa Ibom) and Senator Jibrin I. Barau to become Senate president and deputy, respectively.

“The speaker’s position has been zoned to Kaduna, and Abbas has been picked, while the position of the deputy speaker is going to the South East, and Rep. Kalu has been named for it,” An ally of the President-elect told journalists on Sunday.

Daily Trust gathered that the outgoing Speaker, Gbajabiamila, and the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai influenced Abba and Kalu’s candidature.

Tinubu’s Candidates Rejected

Naija News learnt, however, that the outgoing Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase (Plateau), Muktar Betara Aliyu (Borno) and Yusuf Adamu Gagdi (Plateau),  who are reportedly in support of a different candidate, rejected the candidature of Abbas and Kalu who the President-elect is said to have showed interest on.

Aside from Abbas, Kalu, Wase, Betara and Gagdi, there are five other contenders for the speaker’s seat. They are Abubakar Makki Yelleman (Jigawa); Sada Soli Jibia (Katsina); Abdulraheem Olawuyi (Kwara); Aminu Sani Jaji (Zamfara) and Mariam Odinaka Onuoha (Imo).

Despite the reported endorsement of Tinubu, Betara has fixed his official declaration for today. A statement by the Director-General of his campaign organisation, Dickson Tarkighir, said the declaration would be made at the Lagos/Osun Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

Amid the debate for the House of Representatives leadership, it is worthy of note that the opposition parties have the majority in the Green Chamber with 180 representatives, while the APC has 178. Meanwhile, two seats, one in Akwa Ibom and one in Ondo states, are pending.