An aspirant of the All Progressives Congress for the speakership position in the House of Representatives for the incoming 10th Assembly, Tajudeen Abbas, has said he will not be or lead a rubber stamp parliament if he emerges Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Abbas who represents Zaria
federal constituency of Kaduna State, North-West zone, is reportedly favoured
by both the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the party to become
the Speaker of the next House of Reps.
Speaking during a Channels TV
programme, Politics Today, Abbas said he has what it takes to be the Speaker.
He said, “What makes them think that I am weak? The fact that you don’t come out to insult anybody? The fact that you are a team player; you play along with everyone, you live along with everyone in the House? You don’t have enemies, you have only friends? The fact that you contribute more than any other member in the 9th Assembly? That you are qualified based on public and private sectors’ experience? Does that make me weak?
“Look, what people need to
understand is to go and look at the pedigree and antecedents of each and every
member. The issue of being rubber stamp is neither here nor there. If you
recall in 2019, was it not the president-elect then, Muhammadu Buhari, that
pushed for Femi and the Senate President, Lawan, to become the candidates of
the party? Are we saying today, after almost four years that those people are
the rubber stamps of the Executive? No.”
He also stated that his pedigree
and credentials were what set him apart from others and also the fact that the
president-elect was impressed by him.
He is known as the House of Reps
member who sponsored the most bills in the outgoing 9th Assembly with about 78
bills to his name.
Out of the 78, 21 of those bills
were assented to by the President, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
Speaking on about his meeting
with Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, like other aspirants, he said , “Each
and every contestant for the speakership has at one time or the other visited
the president-elect and also visited the members of the NWC for their
blessings. I, just like most of them, had cause to visit the president-elect
last week, to present myself, to introduce myself, and to also inform him of my
aspiration to be the Speaker of the 10th Assembly.
“We had a very engaging
discussion with him. At the end of the day, I can tell you he was very happy
with my candidature. He prayed for me and also told me that he would do
everything possible to ensure that if it is North West that this particular
position is zoned to, he would ensure that justice and fairness are done to all
the contestants.
“I want to believe, first and
foremost, that he is impressed with my legislative contributions. I have told
him I’ve been in the National Assembly since 2011, and I’ve been there now for
almost 12 years back-to-back, and I’ve contributed in sponsoring a lot of
bills.”
“In the 8th Assembly, I sponsored
43 bills, which gave me the number 1 ranking in terms of those who sponsored
bills. And in the 9th Assembly, I had the singular honour of sponsoring 74
bills, out of which 21 have been assented to by Mr. President, and they’re now
laws in the country.”
About his academic background, he
said that he was primary school teacher, head of accounting in a polytechnics
and even a found head of accounting of the Kaduna State University.”
Speaking on on his meeting with
Tinubu he stated that the president-elect was impressed with his credintials.
“I told him my private sector
experience, that I was a marketing manager with the Nigerian Tobacco Company,
which is now the British American Tobacco. I told him my journey there up to
the time when I became the general manager of a subsidiary company before I
resigned and went back to the classroom in 2001.
“He is impressed with my
credentials, the places that I have worked, particularly in the public and
private sectors, and also my modest contributions in the National Assembly. I’m
sure whatever makes him to say he is happy with me is probably because of those
experiences, the qualifications that I have.”
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