Speakership: Exclusion of other aspirants for consensus undemocratic – ex lawmaker

Mr. Abubakar Chika, a former member of the House of Representatives from Niger State, says the exclusion of other aspirants in the race for the Speaker of the 10th Assembly for a consensus candidate is undemocratic.

Chika, who represented Shiroro/Rafi/Munya Federal Constituency of Niger State, said that the choice of the leadership of the House is solely the responsibility of members-elect, urging the All Progressives Congress to tread lightly.

”If the issue of zoning had been done democratically, the party would have deemed it fit to carry other contenders along.

”All the major contestants have said that there is no way the party will zone the speaker without carrying them along,” he said.

He frowned at the exclusion of the North Central and the North East, where the APC got the majority of its votes, adding that the North Central alone gave the APC over 40 percent of the total vote in the North.

He said if the North Central could deliver such votes, they deserved to be considered in the race and not abandoned for other zones.

“The APC should know that it does not have the majority, particularly in the House of Representatives. The minority is greater in number, and with that, you cannot dictate to members.

” The law did not say APC member-elect must be the speaker but the law say, member must choose among themselves, so if APC becomes very careless as a single party even as a majority other people will take it up, he said

He urged the leadership of the APC to have a rethink, adding that the manner in which the party is going about it could backfire.

“We are not in a military administration; we are in a democratic administration.

“If you cannot allow zoning to take place because you want to balance certain things, then you cannot nano-zone the position of the national assembly.

”This is carelessness. And if Mr. President-elect wants to govern Nigeria well, he should be able to take a stand right now,” Chika said.

Supreme reports that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC released the zoning arrangement on May 8 as follows: Senate President, South South, Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Deputy Senate President, North West, Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano).

Others are Speaker, House of Representatives, North West, Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna); Deputy Speaker (South East), Ben Kalu (Abia).