10th House: G7, opposition parties reach consensus deal for speaker, deputy

Minority caucus denies backing Abass

The Greater Majority Group of the 10th National Assembly, comprising members-elect from opposition parties, yesterday met with members of the G7 group to reach a consensus deal on the leadership positions of the 10th House of Representatives.

The group 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).

The G7 is a group of aggrieved speakership aspirants who have rejected the All Progressives Congress (APC) anointed candidates for speaker and deputy.

They include Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase; chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi; chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Muktar Aliyu Betara; Sada Soli; Miriam Onuoha and Sani Jaji.

At the end of the meeting, which was held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja yesterday, the incoming lawmakers agreed on having consensus candidates for the presiding officers’ positions.

They, however, decided to wait for a later date to unveil the preferred candidates.

Speaking on the development, a member of the G7, Yusuf Gagdi, said the members-elect settled for candidates that would be acceptable to majority of them.

“The G7 met with Greater Majority and agreed on consensus candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker, but we will not mention the names yet. We reached the 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 10th House of Representatives. Be rest assured that the next leadership of the House will emerge from us,” he said.

Meanwhile, members-elect from minority parties in the next 10th House of Representatives, under the auspices of the “Greater Majority,” yesterday said they had not endorsed any candidate for the position of the Speaker of the House.

Recall that there were reports that members of the minority caucus at a stakeholders’ meeting with the outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, indicated support for APC’s anointed candidate, Tajudeen Abass.