Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, All Progressives Congress’s official candidate of the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives yesterday turned down an offer of Deputy Speaker.
DAILY POST gathered that shortly after Hon. Yakubu Dogara’s election as Speaker, he personally reached out to Gbajabiamila to take the slot of Deputy Speaker.
Dogara was said to have held a brief discussion with Gbajabiamila, with an appeal to accept nomination.
The parley took about thirty minutes.
Before going for the meeting, Gbajabiamilia reportedly reached out to some party bigwigs to intimate them of the development.
But the signal he got was clear: He must not accept any position below the Speaker of the House.
Dogara’s camp, however, pressed on to get Gbajabiamila to change his mind.
When it became clear the former Minority Leader would not take the offer, his camp asked Hon Mohammed Monguno (Borno, APC), to accept the nomination.
Monguno was, however, defeated by Hon. Suileman Lasun Yusuff (Osun), who had the backing of Dogara’s camp as Monguno is from same region with the new Speaker.
Several other lawmakers too made efforts to convince Monguno to step down for Yusuff since he is a Northerner.
He rejected the appeal and insisted on contesting.
Yusuff, the new second-in-command at the Green Chamber, a second term lawmaker, eventually polled 203 votes as against Monguno’s 153. He was sworn in immediately by the Clerk.
Also, former Deputy Majority Leader, Hon Leo Ogor (Delta, PDP) had declined to run for the office despite pressure mounted on him by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Lower Chamber to do so.
Ogor’s reason for declining the offer is still unclear.
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