APC group pushes for North-Central, backs Kwara Rep

A group within the All Progressives Congress, Patriotic Peoples’ Forum, has urged the national leadership of the ruling party to allow the North-Central geopolitical zone to produce the next Speaker of the House of Representatives in the coming 10th National Assembly.

The Acting Director-General of the PPF, Professor Hussaini Garba, at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, also declare the support of the group for one of the speakership aspirants, Abdulraheem Olawuyi, from Kwara State.

Garba, in his address titled ‘There Should Not Be Any Alternative to National Cohesion: 10th National Assembly Leadership in Focus,’  noted that the APC’s outing at the 2023 general elections was “to say the least most engaging and promising.”

According to him, the party’s men and women should learn lessons if they really want to be more formidable and achieve set out targets they promised the Nigerian electorate.

Garba added that Bola Tinubu’s presidency had inspired positive hope and anxiety in all Nigerians and, perhaps, that made Nigerians to repose their trust in it, “hence the need to be introspective on the 10th National Assembly leadership.”

He said, “Interestingly, although the APC as a party is yet to zone the Senate and House of Representatives leadership to the South-East and North-Central, respectively, the need to uphold same dispositions should be sacrosanct to all political gladiators interested in the 10th National Assembly leadership.

“All the elected members of the 10th National Assembly should bear in mind that whatsoever is planted in the subconscious mind and nourished with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality. And if anything that is inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria is hatched, we should all know that the consequence will be devastating to the national cohesion, unity and development. 

“Undoubtedly, we all dream for a better and prosperous Nigeria, the only way and to actualise same is by putting competent and committed people into the right position of political authority.”

Garba pointed out that from the biographies of the incoming 10th National Assembly members, the parliament would be kindled with intellectuals across boards, relatively young and promising individuals that would add value to the legislative process of Nigeria. 

“Thus, to pilot the affairs of both the Senate and the House, someone that understands the rudiments of legislation and has the acumen to relate well with all organs of government without glitches should be elected. The task really needs a parliamentarian that will deliver as at when due and should be willing cum determined to get work accomplished.

“Above all, the 10th Assembly needs someone whose humility and interpersonal relationship with fellow colleagues is equal to none,” the acting D-G said.

Garba added, “We wish to use this medium to solicit for the leadership of  the ruling party to support the zoning of speakership position to North-Central, going by role the zone played in the just concluded general elections. As a formidable forum, Patriotic Peoples’ Forum, we are lending our voice in support of a young, promising, vibrant and true democrats in person of Rt. Hon. Abdulraheem Tunji Olawuyi.”

He stressed that Olawuyi, who is Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, should not only be supported but should also be voted for the 10th National Assembly speakership.

Aspirants for the Office of the Speaker in the 10th Assembly, some of whom have yet to officially declare their ambitions, are now over 10. They are seeking to succeed the incumbent Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who has also been reelected for a sixth term.

The contenders include the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase; embattled Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi; Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara; Chairman, House Committee on Science Research Institutes, Olaide Akinremi; Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu; and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbas; Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Abdulraheem Olawuyi; Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Makki Yalleman; and Sani Jaji.

Wase and Gagdi are from Plateau in the North-Central geopolitical zone; Ado-Doguwa, Kano, North-West; Betara, Borno, North-East; Akinremi, Oyo, South-West; Kalu, Abia, South-East; Yalleman, Jigawa, North-West; Jaji, Zamfara, North-West; Soli, Katsina, North-West; Olawuyi, Kwara, North-Central; Abbas, Kaduna, North-West; and Onuoha, Imo, South-East.

The President-elect is from Lagos in the South-West, while the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, is from Borno State in the North-East.

The APC is now left to consider National Assembly leadership positions for the remaining zones – North-West, North-Central, South-South and South-East – in its much-awaited leadership zoning plan.