National Assembly leadership: Aggrieved APC aspirants plot sponsoring candidate against party choice

PUNCH

Aspirants for the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 10th National Assembly, who are aggrieved over the zoning plan of the All Progressives Congress have said there is no going back on their plan to pick one among them to contest against the adopted candidate of the ruling party and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

Despite the zoning formula unveiled by the APC on Monday, which favoured the North-West and the South-East geopolitical zones for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively, two of the aggrieved aspirants went ahead on Friday to declare for the Speaker, including the incumbent Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase.

At the declaration held in Abuja, which was televised live, were other members of the G-7, the seven aspirants who have resolved to go against the APC anointed candidates.

The fresh threat came 24 hours after the aggrieved aspirants met with the APC National Working Committee to register their complaints, and after the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adami, begged aggrieved aspirants for President of the Senate that the party would review the zoning plan with Tinubu.

Top contenders for the Speaker’s seat, some of whom are in the current leadership of the 9th House, opposed the move by the APC to announce consensus candidates without due consultation with stakeholders in the chamber.

There is also unrest in the House over the decision by the APC to allocate two of the four presiding positions to the North-West and none to the North-Central.

The NWC of the APC had on Monday announced a former Minority Leader of the Senate and immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom/South-South) as its consensus candidate for the position of President of the Senate.