There is confusion at the House of Representatives over the conflicting endorsement of the legislature’s Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, and Chairman, Committee on House Services, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, by zonal party caucuses for the speakership of the 8th Assembly.
Gbajabiamila (Lagos State) and Dogara (Bauchi State) are the two leading contestants for the number four office.
However, in what has turned out to be an unending drama since last week, some zonal caucus members will come out to endorse one of the contestants only for another faction of the same zones to disown him the next day.
On Sunday, the North-East caucus had declared support for Gbajabiamila at a meeting where a list of 36 out of the 48 members from the zone was circulated as the names of those backing the endorsement.
At the event, one contestant from Yobe State, Mr. Bukar Goni, also agreed to step down for a fellow aspirant from Borno State, Mr. Mohammed Monguno.
The caucus had declared to back Monguno for the job if the position was zoned to the North-East by the All Progressives Congress.
However, the members clarified that if the seat was zoned to the South-West, they would support Gbajabiamila for a Gbajabiamila/Monguno ticket.
But, on Monday, about 11 lawmakers whose names appeared on the list denied being part of the endorsement.
The members, who were led by a lawmaker from Gombe State, Binta Maigeri, claimed that their names were added to the list without their consent.
On Tuesday (yesterday), another group of eight members from the North-Central geopolitical zone also denied being part of an earlier endorsement of Gbajabiamila.
Speaking for the members, Mr. Mark Gbillah, a member of the APC, told journalists that all members were waiting for the outcome of the ongoing discussions with the party on the zoning of political offices.
“There is a process in place and we are waiting for it to be completed,” he added.
As he spoke, a returning member from the North-West, Mr. Ahmed Chanchangi, announced that the zone had endorsed Gbajabiamila for the position of Speaker.
According to Chanchangi, who is from Kaduna State, up to 80 of the almost 90 lawmakers from the North-East are behind Gbajabiamila.
He said, “To me and the returning members of the House, there is no conflict at all. The only person in the race is Gbajabiamila.
“Apart from him, I can’t see anybody in the race because when you are talking about someone being in the race, the first thing to be taken into consideration is your home support base.
“Look at Abdulmumin Jibrin, I can say he is someone who is just trying to interfere in the whole issue because from Kano State, I have not seen even a member behind him.
“Let us go to the other contenders like Dogara; there have been a lot of noise about Dogara, and why I am saying it is a lot of noise is that, first of all, you have to convince me that your state is behind you.
“So, for me the only person that is contesting is Gbajabiamila. I am from the North-West; we have almost 90 members from the North-West. Kaduna State in particular has 16; from Kano, we have 24; Katsina has 15; Jigawa has 11; and in Sokoto, we have 12 members.”
Reacting to the endorsement crisis, Jibrin dismissed all the endorsement claims, saying that endorsement would not produce the Speaker but “acceptance by members.”
Calling the endorsements “fake”, Jibrin, who is from Kano State, advised his fellow contestants to work hard to convince members to vote for them rather than relying on endorsements.
Meanwhile, members elected to the House for the first time have called for an open debate among the contestants to determine which of them has the potential to lead the 8th Assembly.
