- Zones deputy speaker to north central
The All Progressives Congress (APC) may be preparing grounds for
deeper crisis in the party over the struggle for the leadership of the
National Assembly. The party leadership that is in a position to
regulate contest amongst party members and provide level playing
ground for all members, has repeated taken partisan decisions in
endorsing particular candidates for the presiding officers of the two
chambers of the National Assembly. It would have sufficed for APC
leaders to decide on zoning the various positions to particular
political blocs, then, allow actors in the zone to sponsor any
candidate.
The APC on Tuesday adopted the Majority Leader in the House of
Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos State, south west, as
the anointed candidate for the Speaker of the House of Representatives
in the Ninth National Assembly.
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However, APC leaders were said to have arrived at the decision after
extensive consultation with the Party’s House of Representatives
members-elect at a dinner with President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja.
The Deputy Speaker position was zoned to the North Central. The north
central has been agitating for the Speaker of the House with support
from some of the newly elected lawmakers in the lower chamber of the
National Assembly.
Although, APC controls majority members in the two chambers of the
National Assembly, horse trading and overtures to the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) members cannot be ruled out.