The South-South geo-political zone on Wednesday made a case for a South-South lawmaker to succeed Mr. Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the incoming 8th Assembly.A group, the Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum for Peace, backed a lawmaker from Edo State, Mr. Peter Akpatason, to succeed Tambuwal.
Akpatason, a former trade unionist, is one of the only two All Progressives Congress lawmakers from the South-South, who won election into the incoming House.
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The second lawmaker, Mr. Pally, is also in the race for the speakership.
Both lawmakers are from Edo State.
The Coordinator of the group, Mr. Ifidon Dominic, spoke in Abuja on Wednesday ahead of the National Executive Committee meeting of the APC, expected to take a final stand on the zoning of key political offices from May 29.
Earlier last week, the National Working Committee of the party had narrowed the speakership to the South-West and the North-East.
But Dominic explained that it would only be fair to let the South-South produce the next Speaker of the House for the purpose of balancing the sharing of key political offices in the country.
Dominic argued that this was the reason the group had been backing Akpatason, who it believed could bring his background as a trade union leader to bear on the running of the affairs of the House.
He added, “Since 2007 when Hon. Austin Opara from Rivers State served as deputy Speaker, the South-South has not occupied any presiding position in the House.
“This time, having contributed to the victory of the APC and Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), we should not be left out.”
Investigations by The PUNCH showed that as the group pushed for Akpatason, the lawmakers from the North-East also called for an emergency meeting on Wednesday to strategise on how to make a “strong case” for the position at the NEC.
On Wednesday, one of the aspirants from the North-East, Mr. Buka Goni (Yobe State), openly canvassed votes on the floor of the House at a session presided over by Tambuwal.
Goni, who was originally asked to second a motion on a separate matter, seized the opportunity to campaign for himself.
He stood up and described himself as the “next Speaker of the House of Representatives by the grace of God,” as members erupted in laughter.
Tambuwal quickly intervened to rule that his comments should be expunged from the votes and proceedings of the day.
Two other contestants, Mr. Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi State) and Mr. Mohammed Monguno (Borno State), are the front-liners from the North-East, who are likely to clinch the seat should the NEC zone it to the region.
However, findings indicated that the incumbent House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, seemed to have the backing of lawmakers across the six geo-political zones and could pick the seat if it was zoned to the South-West.
Gbajabiamila and lawmakers across zones had been involved in negotiations in the last two weeks.
“The whole of this depends on the final position of the NEC on zoning.
“Much of what is going on is that every zone is promoting its case to woo support”, a National Assembly official told our correspondnet in Abuja on Wednesday.
House spokesman and member of the APC, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed that much depended on the outcome of the NEC meeting.
But on Monday the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the House warned that it would oppose any candidate imposed on the House by the APC.
Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, who spoke for the caucus, had argued that members must be allowed to elect a Speaker by themselves without any interference from any party.
The PDP will be the minority party in the next House.
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