Deputy Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Mr. Leo Ogor
The Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the House of Representatives said on Tuesday that members would resist any candidate imposed on the House for the position of speaker.
The caucus noted that the legislature was an independent arm of government, which must be allowed to elect its speaker.
Deputy House Majority Leader, Leo Ogor, who spoke for the caucus in Abuja, stated that lawmakers were “concerned.’’ over ongoing moves by the All Progressives Congress to allot the speakership to a specific geopolitical zone in the country.
Ogor spoke just as a member of the APC, Nasir Garo, advised his colleagues in the House to remain united and support any decisions the party might take on zoning of offices.
Ogor warned that the approach of the APC could be “counterproductive “ by way of a revolt vote against the choice of the party for the position.
He recalled that in 2007, Dimeji Bankole became the speaker after members vehemently opposed Patricia Etteh, who was then the choice of the PDP.
He added that in 2011, the current speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, emerged via a revolt vote against the preferred choice of the PDP which zoned the seat to the South-West.
Ogor said the House had always opposed imposition of candidates because it wanted to decide its case by voting the “best among the best to be the speaker.”
He noted that while the PDP was not disputing the fact of being the minority party in the incoming 8th Assembly, the members would not allow the APC to impose any candidate on them.
Ogor added, “Section 50 (B) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is very clear on how the speaker should emerge.
“It does not say a political party should decide who will become the speaker, but that members of the House shall elect from among themselves a speaker.
“So, the speaker is not a speaker of the APC but the speaker of the House. The methodology of zoning they have adopted will lead to crisis if not carefully handled.”
The South-West and the North-East have been named as the two zones likely to produce the next speaker.
The meeting of the National Working Committee of the party ended on Saturday with the two zones mentioned to produce the speaker.
The APC National Executive Committee will again meet this week to ratify all issues relating to zoning of key political offices, including the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.
But, the PDP caucus insists that while the APC is free to go on to zone the positions, the House would defend its independence by electing a candidate “who is the choice of the House.”
He added, “No party will decide for us who becomes the speaker. We will pick our speaker by ourselves.”
However, Garo, while cautioning his APC colleagues against playing into the hands of the PDP, argued that there was nothing wrong if the APC guided members on the choice of speaker.
Garo claimed that the country was still growing politically and could not afford to dismiss zoning.
The APC lawmaker spoke further, “For me, Nigeria is not yet politically mature to jettison zoning. It is important that we carry every zone along, especially in the distribution of political offices in the land.
“The issue of zoning is very important and we should maintain it.
“I strongly believe and rightly so that there is no zone in the country that does not have individuals that have the capacity and capabilities to effectively run the leadership of the National Assembly.
“In view of this, whatever misgivings anyone can have against zoning will definitely not hold water.”
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