The lawmakers-elect in separate interviews said they were not consulted before the announcements, which signalled the President Bola Tinubu government’s disposition of trying to handpick the leaders of the National Assembly and make them rubber-stamp.
Some federal lawmakers-elect from Northern Nigeria have explained why the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoning arrangement for the leadership of the National Assembly cannot stand.
The lawmakers-elect in separate interviews said they were not consulted before the announcements, which signalled the President Bola Tinubu government’s disposition of trying to handpick the leaders of the National Assembly and make them rubber-stamp.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Tinubu amid the National Assembly leadership crisis has been scheduled to meet with the lawmakers-elect from opposition political parties on Monday over the leadership tussle.
The meeting is expected to be attended by opposition senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), among other opposition parties at the State House in Abuja between 3 pm and 5 pm.
The leadership of the ruling APC in April zoned the leadership of the 10th National Assembly to the South-South (Senate President), Northwest (Deputy Senate President), Speaker (Northwest), and Deputy Speaker (South East).
Sources in the National Assembly revealed to SaharaReporters that some of the lawmakers-elect met in Abuja, Gombe, Sokoto, and Yola and resolved that the outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, could not impose an aspirant from the North-West on them.
“We are not happy with the way Gbajabiamila and the party leaders selected Hon. Tajudeen Abass to become Speaker without due agreement from us, the incoming lawmakers from the zone. We insist we should be thoroughly consulted. We are planning to sponsor one of the aspirants to slug it out with Abbas, whom the Speaker of the 9th assembly favours.
"Gbajabiamila is doing this selfishly because he has been dropping the name of the President. You will recall a recent spat between the Speaker and Deputy Speaker on the floor of the house, where the Rt. Hon. Speaker made a decision based on his personal agenda and shut down the Deputy Speaker for daring to speak up,” one of the lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid victimisation by the party, said.
“Gbajabiamila is acting like he owns the House of Representatives and plans to maintain this power-hold through Hon. Abbas Tajudeen. This is why we have been meeting to bring forward someone who can protect the integrity of the 10th House of Representatives.
“They should allow us to choose who we want. A zone is not a person; even if the National Working Committee zoned the position to the Northwest, they should allow us to choose the best among us; it’s not their duty to choose anybody for us,” another lawmaker-elect added.
“We must not allow another cabal in the Villa under President Tinubu, which is why the North will go ahead and work against the so-called candidate of the party. While we have no problem with how the First Lady imposed Gbajabiamila on Aso Rock, we won't fold our arms and allow a few privileged individuals to impose their stooge on Northwest and, by extension, the Northern region.
"When we conclude the meetings, we will know who to support. We will keep working to ensure the zoning arrangement is scuttled, especially in the House of Representatives. Remember 2015, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and Hon. Yusuf Lasun became Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively, disregarding the party. We will pull the same stunt. They should allow us to do the right thing," said another aggrieved lawmaker-elect.