Speakership: Democratic Coup Looms in House of Reps as LP, PDP Plot to Topple APC, Details Emerge
- The House of Representatives speakership seat race has reached a fever pitch ahead of the inauguration of the 10th assembly
- The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), with more lawmakers in the lower chambers, is plotting to adopt the zoning principle
- Meanwhile, the opposition lawmakers have joined forces to upstage the APC by selecting the new Speaker from their camp
FCT, Abuja - The tussle for leadership at the upcoming 10th National Assembly has been intriguing over the past few weeks.
Talks have mostly been about the Senate presidential seat in the upper chamber, but interestingly, conversations about the speakership seat in the House of Representatives have begun to surface.
Source: UGC
In a recent report by the Punch newspaper, it was gathered that re-elected and newly-elected members of the House of Representatives from the opposition camps are already synergising to upstage the ruling party for the speakership position.
Meanwhile, in the camp of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), there are ongoing conversations amongst the party's leadership to zone the speakership position.
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However, this move did not go well with elected lawmakers in the opposition who are already plotting to join forces and override the APC, This Day reported.
The aspiration for the speakership position has risen to 10, and conversations amongst the opposition have already been set in motion.
Speakership: Opposition plotting to upstage APC
Old and new members of the House of Representatives from the PDP, NNPP, APGA, SDP, ADC and YPP were all in attendance at the strategy meeting.
The meeting had high-ranking members of the lower chambers like Oluwole Oke (PDP/Osun), Beni Lar (PDP/Plateau), Boma Goodhead (PDP/Rivers), Bamidele Salam (PDP/Osun), Dachung Bagos (PDP/Plateau), Jonathan Gbefwi (SDP/Nasarawa), and a former ranking member, Abdulmumin Jibrin (NNPP/Kano), who has been re-elected to the parliament.
Currently, the combined members of the House of Reps in the opposition camp are 163, while the APC controls 162 seats.
Ali Isa, the plot's mastermind, acknowledged that there needs to be an alliance to topple the APC while speaking to the media.
He said:
“For now, the opposition has not taken any decision. We are still consulting. But we have the numbers to do anything we want.
“All the political parties, – LP, APGA, YPP, SDP, ADC and PDP – came together to be united; to also see what we can do to help this country.
“We will also appreciate if the executive will allow the lawmakers to enjoy independence. We will also not interfere in the affairs of the executive.”
He also noted that all lawmakers from the opposition party had resolved not to recognise the zoning plot adopted by the APC in selecting who becomes the next Speaker of the House of Reps.
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He said:
"We have no business with any zoning. We in the opposition, what we are looking at is to unite the country to ensure people benefit. We don’t have any agenda for zoning on our table.”
Senate Presidency race gets tougher as another long-serving senator declares ambition
Similarly, the Senate presidential seat race has reached a fever pitch ahead of the May 29 transition of the 10th National Assembly.
Senator Ali Ndume of Borno State officially joined the race making him one of the big names vying for the coveted position.
His declaration makes it the second time he would declare interest in the number one seat at the red chambers.
Source: Legit.ng
