The aspirants for the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the coming 10th National Assembly, who are aggrieved with the zoning plan of the All Progressives Congress, are grouping against the party’s adopted candidates, according to reports.
Top contenders for the speaker’s seat, some of whom are in the current leadership of the 9th House, opposed the move by the APC to announce consensus candidates without due consultation with stakeholders in the chamber.
The National Working Committee of the APC had on Monday officially announced a former Minority Leader of the Senate and immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godwin Akpabio, from the South-South, as its consensus candidate for the position of President of the Senate.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Barau Jibrin, from the North-West, was nominated for the position of the Deputy President of the Senate.
In the House, the seat of Speaker was zoned to the North-West, with Tajudeen Abbas, as the consensus candidate.
The South-East clinched the slot of Deputy Speaker, with the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, emerging as the party’s candidate.
Nevertheless, the current Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara (APC/Borno), amidst reports of the zoning plan released by the NWC of the APC, officially declared his speakership bid in Abuja on Monday night.
At the declaration ceremony were co-aspirants who had formed a group to move against the APC aspirants.
Members of the group, according to the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, are the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa; Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; and a former member of the House who is now member-elect, Sani Jaji; and Betara.
