Congratulations to Hon Tajudeen Abbas and Hon Benjamin Kalu on their well-deserved emergence as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively, of the 10th House of Representatives. June 13, 2023, will go down in history as the day the House of Representatives without rancour choose Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu to lead them and it went without any incidents. It was an indication of how much their colleagues valued and trusted their leadership.
Tajudeen Abbas was elected the new Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives when he polled 353 votes to emerge the winner of the Speakership election. The other contestants, former Deputy Speaker Idris Wase and Sani Jaji polled three votes each.
Grow your business with us
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 10th National Assembly, Benjamin Kalu, was adopted by members-elect. While the newly elected Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, contested against two aspirants, Kalu emerged as Deputy Speaker of the House unopposed.
Confirming that there were no other nominations for the position, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Tambuwal, swore in Kalu as Deputy Speaker immediately.
It had been tortuous for the chairman of the Lands Transport Committee in the elapsed 9th House when APC had in early May adopted him and Benjamin Kalu for coveted offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House.
That decision did not go down well with some aspirants who formed an opposition group, code-named G-7, which comprised Wase, the then Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Betara, Gagdi, Sada Soli (Katsina), Jaji and Onuoha.
The G-7 with only Doguwa absent had taken their grievances to the APC national headquarters in Abuja where they rejected the party’s choice.
They had warned the APC National Working Committee and stakeholders of the party to prepare for a repeat of the 2015 scenario should the party allow the endorsed candidates list to stand.
Wase told APC national leadership that for such a decision to be arrived at, there was need for serious consultations with all members, reminding the party that it does not have the majority in the House, hence, the need to have everyone to agree with such a zoning template.
“We do not want a repeat of what has happened in the past. We should not forget about the “Tambuwalisation” of what happened in the House of Representatives.
“We should not forget about the emergence of how Saraki became the senate president. The party as of today we do not have the majority to be that arrogant, and we should take people for granted,” he said.
The members of G-7 were said to be making arrangements to adopt a consensus candidate amongst them to challenge the party’s choice of Abbas, a wide crack surfaced in their ranks.
That was as the Doguwa, along two other non- G-7 aspirants, Makky Yalleman (Jigawa) and Abdulraheem Olawuyi (Kwara) stepped down for Abbas barely a week after the pilgrimage to APC headquarters.
The former Majority Leader who spoke on behalf of his two colleagues said as party men who have enjoyed the benevolence of the APC, they could not go against the party’s anointed candidate for the position of speaker.
He said: “I have benefited from party arrangements, this kind of arrangement. I’m the majority leader courtesy of my party. So, it’s only fair to stand beside my party’s decision. Time has come for me to pay back.
“We are here individually and collectively to support Tajudeen. We are surrendering our speakership ambition. The selection process of Abass is not biased and he and Kalu are qualified to be speaker and deputy.”
Another major crack occurred just 48 hours to the election: Betara, believed to be the rallying point of the G-7 and another strong member, and Gadgi stepped down for Abbas.
While Soli had not been so passionate about race, having not made public declarations like some of his colleagues, Wase, Jaji and Onuoha was going to the poll to challenge the party’s anointed candidate.
To show their resolve to go ahead and contest, Wase was absent at the meeting of President Bola Tinubu with the lawmakers from all political parties while Jaji boycotted the penultimate parley with APC members-elect just like Wase.
The erstwhile Deputy Speaker, for instance, vowed to go ahead and contest for the Speaker’s seat because it had been prophesied that he would become Speaker.
Wase stated this at the House’s valedictory session on Wednesday after the House Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano) pleaded with other aspirants to step down for the APC consensus candidate, Abbas.
The Deputy Speaker who spoke immediately after Doguwa said as a democrat who believes in contesting, he was determined to continue with the race until the end.
“I want to appreciate my political leaders, among whom I would say is Solomon Lar, who when I was contesting in 2007, I went to him and he prophesied the number of times I will come to this Assembly and I will tell this crowd and to the world, that he said, I will come to the Assembly in the number of times and prophesied even the number of leadership that I will attain and the Deputy Speakership and he prophesied next when I return, and I believe I will be Speaker and I believe I, In sha Allah, I will be the Speaker of the Green Chambers,” he insisted.
One of the leading contenders for the Speakership of the 10th House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Sanni Jaji, had debunked media reports that he has stepped down from the race. Jaji, in a statement by his media office on Monday, said reports suggesting his exit from the race was an attempt by his opponents to blackmail him. The lawmaker-elect from Zamfara State stated that consultations are still ongoing with his colleagues to drum up support for his ambition.
In the end to the glory of God, June 13, 2023 has come and gone and Hon Tajudeen Abbas and Hon Benjamin Kalu has emerged Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively of the 10th House of Representatives. They need the prayers of Nigeria as they embark on the onerous task of leading the House in making laws for the good governance of Nigeria.