Speakership: Number of reps against Gbajabiamila may tip the scale

As the APC decision on the ninth NASS leadership continues to generate tension in the ruling party, those favoured for the top legislative jobs are increasingly facing opposition.

The fallout of that resistance may not only make the endorsement of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Sen. Ahmed Lawan a waste, but it will also turn the party leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari, Bola Tinubu, and Chairman Adams Oshiomhole,  into a bunch of figureheads.

For the house of Reps, Majority Leader Gbajabiamila, for instance, still have the odds lined up against him—when it comes to logrolling.

Out of the 360 members who will be voting in the NASS leadership election in the lower house, only 164 APC reps-elect are behind Gbajabiamila currently.

The 196 others, including the PDP honorables, may decide to spoil the show for the ruling party by joining forces with non-conformist APC reps or other candidates—from the PDP or any party.

Already a rep-elect from AP-Imo Hon. Chike Okafor has written the party chairman Adams Oshiomhole that he will be contesting the top job with the party candidate.

Groups from the north-central have also been agitating the Speakership should be their own no matter what the party decides.

Gbajabiamila (APC-Lagos) is one of the most ranking and the most experienced the party can boast of in the NASS. He is also one of the trusted cavalrymen of the party’s national leader Tinubu who first declared the party’s favourites for the Senate and the House of Reps.

And the former governor warned recently the APC will discipline any of its members in the NASS who goes against the party’s decision.

But recent developments have showed individuals and caucuses have sprung up to oppose the choices President Buhari allegedly endorsed.

The caucus primarily giving Gbajabiamila a back wind comprises newly elected reps.

The group’s statement on Tuesday described as insincere the argument of the north-central agitators.

According to the forum’s chairman, Tunji Ojo, and its director-general, Dunkwu Chamberlain, in a statement during the week, the north could not produce the president, the Senate president, and the speaker at the same time.