New Reps-Elect Dismiss North-Central Claim For Speaker, Back Gbajabiamila

The Forum of Newly Elected APC Members of the House of Representatives has dismissed the contention of some of their colleagues from the North-Central for the zoning of the Speaker of the House to the North-Central.

In dismissing the claim and upholding the nomination of Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila for Speaker, the forum asserted that the zoning of National Assembly offices was between the North and the South as it said that having zoned the Senate President to the North that it was rational that the Speaker should come from the South.

The forum in describing its quest for a new relationship with the executive branch of government bemoaned the altercations it claimed had stymied what it described as the good intentions of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The forum which claims to have 164 members in its fold in the statement signed by its Chairman, Tunji Olabunmi Ojo and the Director General, Dunkwu Nnamdi Chamberlain said:

“Every member of the party is a product of the party; the party gave everybody the platform to contest and apart from giving platform, the party also gave assistance to members before, during and after the elections. 

“So, it is expected that as a loyal party members, we are supposed to toe the line of the party and now that the party and Mr. President have spoken that Femi Gbajabiamila should be supported for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, we expect every party faithful to toe that line and support Gbajabiamila to emerge as Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
“We believe he has the experience; more experience than other people that are contesting the position. It is not just enough for you to bring out posters. Femi is very qualified, eminently qualified more than any other person. Let’s just forget about geopolitical zones, we are talking about competence, we are talking about Nigeria, we are talking about the interest of the downtrodden. Femi will be able to articulate policies that would benefit the generality of the Nigerian masses to complement the next level agenda of Mr. President.”
On zoning, the Forum, said, “Right from time it has always been North/South. 
“The Presidency is zoned to the North, while the Vice President is to the South. Now Senate President has been zoned to the North and Speakership to the South and when it comes to the South we decide where it should go. 
“Politics in this country is played along the lines of North and South. North Central is North, North West is North and North East is North. So, the Speakership has been zoned to South. When we zoned the Presidency to the North, North West produced the President. So, for those talking about zoning, zoning in this country is done North/South.”
Speaking on how the Forum would make impact in the election of the Speaker, the Forum said, “well, the Forum of the newly elected APC members has 164 Representatives, then we have members of other political parties that are also affiliated to this Forum of new members irrespective of their political parties. Some of them were originally APC but because they could not get tickets during the primaries to contest, they moved to other parties. So, we have the same ideology, they are just there because they went to look for a platform to contest. They are all with us in this struggle to make sure that Femi emerges the Speaker of House of Representatives.
“We want to ensure that what happened in the 8th Assembly would not repeat itself, where party loyalty was thrown to the dustbin. People went there to fight for their individual pockets. 
“We are in this 9th Assembly to fight for the interest of Nigerians. Nigerians are suffering. How can Mr. President present a budget and for 7 months the budget was still being kept on hold – frustrating the good policies of Mr. President, frustrating the good policies of the party”?

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