There are indications that the race for speakership – the
prime leadership position in the incoming 9th Assembly is taking a new
dimension despite the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC adopted the
current House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila as its consensus candidate.
Standing on a favorable lane in this new political leaning
is one of the topmost contenders for the position of the speakership, Rt. Hon.
Mohammed Umar Bago.
There is an underground plot by some chieftains in the APC
to back off Gbajabiamila’s campaign and support a candidate of north-central
extract.
According to feelers in the House of Representatives,
majority of the returning lawmakers and a section of the APC have teamed up
with Hon. Bago and are vehemently working against the combatant-like
disposition of the national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and National leader,
Bola Tinubu in delivering the speakership position to Gbajabiamila.
A top chieftain of APC who spoke to this medium on condition
of anonymity, said Gbajabiamila chances are threatened by fears in some
quarters of the party that he [Gbajabiamila], a staunch loyalist of Tinubu may
do the bidding of his Lagos ‘godfather’ rather than that of the party.
“There is a northern governor who leading talks with 14
other governors to ensure Gbajabiamila’s bid is frustrated.” Says source
Only recently, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai made an
anti-godfather [An allusion directed to Tinubu] remark in Lagos State which was
calculated by political analyst as a reflection of the in-fighting in the APC.
Advancing on his strength of building people-centric
relationships, Bago who was adjudged by his supporters as highly ‘relatable’ said
his campaign will focus on the establishment of a functional and enduring
relationship with his stakeholders.
Lawmakers who are supporting Bago are putting up a good
debate on why the APC leadership should give north-central chance to get the
speakership of the 9th assembly.
One of the points advanced Bago’s supporters is ‘federal
character’ – they hold that the position of the speakership should be zoned to
the North Central since the North-West has Mr. President, the South-West has
the Vice President and the Senate President has been zoned to the North-East.
If APC is to go by popular support and equitable zoning
formula, the 9th speakership will almost seem a perfect hard-earned right of
the north-central.
The Senate presidency was zoned to the North-East, being the
zone that contributed the highest number of votes after the North-West, as such
the proponents in this line of thought believe the speakership position will
naturally, go to the next in line – the North-Central zone – which produced the
second largest votes after the North-East (2,465,599).
The Bago’s camp is not only mounting pressure on the
presidency but also lobbying with lawmakers from the North Central states to
seek compensation for delivering the third largest votes to the second-term
election of President Buhari on February 23.
Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila is not leaving any stone unturned –
his camp is very active and they have toured almost the entire country soliciting
support for his candidature.
Gbajabiamila has also resorted to play up the ethnic and
religious sentiments to avoid missing the highly contested seat like he did in
2015. The Lagos lawmaker is today seen more at Islamic events or sometimes
visiting highly revered Islamic clerics. He recently traveled to Saudi Arabia
for a lesser hajj and was pictured leading an Islamic prayer in another
session.
Critics have however alleged that Gbajabiamila is also an
elder in a Pentecostal Church.
However, those in Gbajabiamila’s camp have dispelled the
allegation of double faith, saying Gbajabiamila’s one of parents is a Moslem while
the other is a Christian.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
See madness.... Chai.! Politicians could be desperate.
ReplyDelete