House Speakership: G-7 Meets Greater Minority, Set to Unveil Candidate
Meanwhile, the candidates of
Group 7 (G7) for the position of the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives have met with another group of 182 members-elect from the opposition parties better known as Greater Minority with a resolved to present a consensus candidate for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker positions.
The candidates of G7 include Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase; Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi; Chairman of House Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara; Hon. Sada Soli; Hon. Mariam Onuoha and Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji.
Recall that the Greater Minority is made up of 182 members-elect across minority parties including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP), Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), Young People's Party (YPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In a statement signed by Gagdi after the meeting which was held in Abuja yesterday, the incoming lawmakers agreed on consensus candidates for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker positions and decided to wait for a later date to unveil the candidates.
Speaking on the development, Gagdi said the members-elect settled for candidates that will be acceptable to the majority of them.
“The G7 met with Greater Minority and agreed on consensus candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker but we will not mention the names yet. We reached an agreement based on the best choice of people that will be acceptable to the majority of all parties involved.
“We have formed this alliance to resist all attempts by external forces to impose leadership on the 10" House of Representatives. Be rest assured that the next leader of the House will emerge from us,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the minority caucus for the incoming 10th House of Representatives has said it has not endorsed any aspirant for the office of speaker as reported in some media outfits.
The caucus also known as 'Greater Majority' going by its collective number of 182 memberelect across minority parties said this in a statement signed by the secretary of the group, Ali Isa, yesterday.
The lawmakers had last week met with the House Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
But Isa in a statement said the caucus only met with Gbajabiamila, and the APC consensus speakership candidate, Tajudeen Abbas, who also engaged the group and made his presentation to solicit the support of its members to work with him just like the other aspirants did.