Majority of the legislators of the House of Representatives, both old and new, from the North-west geo-political zone, on Tuesday threw their weight behind the aspiration of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

This is in spite of the growing cynicism and rejection of such actions credited to members from the North-east and North-central zones. Some elements of the House All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus from the two zones have recently rejected claims made in an advertisement and some stories that they support Gbajabiamila.

This is as Hon. Ahmed Rufa’i Chanchangi, from Kaduna, told journalists that the zone supports the bid of Gbajabiamila, given the sacrifices he has made to uphold the interest of the North-west since 2011.

By his pronouncement, about  80 federal lawmakers out of the 90 coming from the North-west geo-political zone have lined up to back the candidacy of the Minority Leader,  Gbajabiamila, in the race for speakership of the incoming eighth House of Representatives.

Chanchangi said: “I think, to me and to the returning members of the House, there is no conflict at all. The only person in the race is Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila”.

“Apart from him, I can’t see anybody in the race because when you are talking about someone being in the race, the first thing to be taken into consideration is your home support base.

“Look at Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, I can say he is someone who is just trying to bargain with the whole issue because he is from Kano State, I have not seen even a single member behind him.

“Let’s go to the other contenders like Hon. Dogara; there have been a lot of noise about Dogara and why I am saying it’s a lot of noise is that, first of all, you have to convince me that your state is behind you. Bauchi State has 11 members and I don’t see any of the 11 members going behind Dogara to campaign along with him, I have not seen anything like that.

“So, for me, the only person that is contesting is Hon. Femi. I am from the North-west, we have almost 90 members from the North-west. Kaduna State in particular, we have 16, from Kano we have 24, Katsina we have 15, Jigawa we have 11 and in Sokoto we have 12 members respectively.

He added: “What we have is almost one-quarter of the total honourable members of the House. And if you take a look at that statistics, from the 90 honourable members, about 75 to 80 are hundred per cent with Gbajabiamila and this is not because of party affiliation but because of what he did.”

“This is someone who has been in the House for the past 12 years, I just joined the House in 2011 but I have seen what he has been doing for the past 12 years as the minority leader.

“For someone to lead you from darkness to light, we know he is the right candidate. We don’t have to even start doubting. He led the opposition from minority party in the House now to majority party and he stood on his feet through thick and thin.

He dismissed as baseless ,allegation that the outgoing Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, is behind one of the contenders for the position. “Actually, I won’t say Tambuwal is behind any contestant apart from Femi. If he is, he should come out and say ‘I am behind so and so person.’ Once he cannot come out and say this, then we believe it is already ‘dead on arrival’.

“Whoever or the supposed candidates that are going about lying that Tambuwal is behind them are playing to the gallery and I don’t believe that such a thing exists at all”, he stressed.

Meanwhile, Jibrin observed that recent claims of endorsement of aspirants by different groups of members of the House of Representatives will not ultimately decide who becomes the Speaker of the lower chamber.

According to him, the popularity of an aspirant can only be ascertained by the number of votes he garners and not some unclear zonal and state endorsements.
He told journalists that “as evident with the outgoing seventh assembly, members of the House of Representatives chose their leaders based on acceptance, not purported endorsement being bandied in the media. I am confident that the eighth Assembly will continue this laudable democratic trend.”

“All the endorsement claims and counter claims have ended up as fake and lies. However, the focus should be acceptability not fake endorsements. Secondly, I have concentrated clearly in what I will do if elected, other aspirants are simply struggling to be speaker in a do or die manner. I challenge them (aspirants) to come out with their agenda if they are sure it will be in the new spirit of change!” Jibrin added.

He further added that: “With the recent powerful and patriotic statement from the president-elect, the coast has been cleared for competence and merit to determine who becomes Speaker of the 8th Assembly.

“It is a known fact that only if I am zoned out, under a free and fair contest I will win with land slide margin the 8th Assembly Speakership election. None of the aspirants can match my popularity or provide the needed compatibility with the incoming President to execute the needed reforms and deliver on our campaign promises like myself.”

Equally, eight members from the North-central distanced themselves from an advertisement in several national dailies that indicated that they were part of a group that endorsed the aspiration of Gbajabiamila from the zone.

Hon. Mark Gbilah, on behalf of 7 others, told journalists yesterday that they are unaware of the May 8 publication which included their names.

Those named in the advertisement were: Hon. Beni Lar (Plateau), Hon. Mohammed Ogoshi (Nassarawa), Hon. Suleiman Kwande (Plateau), Hon. Emmanuel Udende (Benue) and Hon. Chris Adabah (Benue). The rest are: Ovker Jev (Benue) and Adamu Entonu (Benue)

Gbilah, who briefed the press alone said they were doing so to clear the air about the matter and not to refuse endorsing any candidate, explained: “the publication purported that we have endorsed certain aspirant. But we categorically state that we’re not aware of this.”

Cautioning those putting such matters in public domain to be cautious as “a process is in place and we will wait for its conclusion.”

He said: “the North-Central caucus didn’t sanction such publication. It is a shock that our name was in press. The party has not made its position known. We’re waiting for that.”