★May Forge Alliance Against Tinubu’s Choice
★Wase Kicks Against Abbas’ Nomination
★Say ‘We Must Not Allow Parliament To Be Hijacked’
The race for the Speakership of the 10th National Assembly took a dramatic turn on Monday evening following the appearances of the incumbent Deputy Speaker of the House, Ahmed Idris Wase, the Governor-elect of Niger State, Hon Muhammed Umar Bago, Senator-elect, Muhammad Tahir Monguno and other Speakership aspirants were seen at the official declaration of intent by the chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara in Abuja.
Recall that Hon. Bago, the governor -elect of Niger State and a very good friend of Hon. Betara ran for the same office against the outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila in 2019, despite the endorsement of the latter by the party.
This followed the decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to endorse Hon. Tajudeen Abbas from Kaduna State for the Speakership position, and Benjamin Okezie Kalu for the Deputy Speakership position respectively.
The aspirants which included the outgoing deputy speaker of the House, Hon. Idris Wase, the leader of the House, Hon. Ado Doguwa, Chairman, House Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi and Hon. Sada Soli were present to show solidarity with Betara who formally declared his intention to run for the office on Monday in Abuja.
There was also a handful of other lawmakers from across the political parties who graced the occasion.
Osun/Lagos hall of the Transcorp Hilton, the venue of the event was filled to the brim as there was no space for even journalists to access the hall way before the arrival of the declaring aspirant, Betara for the commencement of the programme.
Daily Independent observed that the hotel premises was also filled with security-grade vehicles as it took many over two hours to drive into the premises from the main gate of the hotel.
Incidentally, the declaration coincided with the induction course for elected lawmakers and the zoning decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC which named Senator Godswill Akpabio from south south and Hon. Tajudeen Abbas from the North West as its preferred candidates for both the Senate President and the House speaker for 10th Assembly.
Speaking at declaration, Wase said that Abbas was not known to the members of the House.
“Again, I want to add that we are here to ensure the independence of the parliament. To ensure that we work together. Every Parliamentarian must rise to the occasion.
“We will work as a team. We will not allow this parliament to be hijacked. We will not allow this parliament to be made a lame duck. I believe we are loyal to our country first. Loyal to our party and loyal to our people.
“When you say you have a consensus candidate, the language for consensus is that there have been mass consultations, people go to table for discussion. There is agreement. In this case, we just saw and we are hearing rumors, speculations that some people have been made consensus candidates.
“I don’t know whether that is the meaning of consensus. This place is very sacred. We must be Honourable in our action in defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he said.
Similarly, Doguwa said that APC was yet to consult them before zoning the positions.
He said it was the business of the parliament to chose its leaders.
“One message I want to pass across is that the parliament is one institution that must always be allowed to choose its own leaders.
“The business of our leadership should be solely our business and no other person’s business. In a situation where you have some people in whatsoever guise trying to decide our leadership, to form our leadership from outside without consulting us I think that should be seen as a mere failure.
“I remain available for consultations until that is done, every one will answer his father’s name, Doguwa said.
In his declaration, Betara who could not read his prepared speech for want of time, said that he was working in tandem with other aspirants for the project.
“My name is Muktar Aliyu Betara. I am from Borno State. Much has been said about Betara. I invited all of you here to declare for the speakership of the 10th Assembly. I am supposed to read this my speech but I think it will take time. All has been said about me. The most important thing today is for me to declare that I am contesting for the speakership. Today is our day for members-elect and for former members of the parliament. You are seeing all the aspirants here. They came to support me because we are one family. We are moving as a group. We have been in the system for years. I was a member in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Assemblies”, he said.
The borno-born lawmaker urged his colleagues to rally round to the actualize the goals of the “Betara movement”.
