Abuja Group Slams Gbajabiamila Over Reps Minority Leadership

Abuja based group, One Nigeria Movement (ONM), has faulted the House

of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila over his handling of the

House Minority Principal Officers, accusing him of turning himself to

an emperor by arrogating to himself, the powers to appoint minority

leaders in the House as against the position of the leading minority

party.

In a release on Friday, signed by its Convener General, Alhaji Ahmed

Sodiq-Mugoro, the ONM said it was appealing that Gbajabiamila could

resort to threatening his colleagues, who disagreed with his decision

to appropriate to himself, the power of majority of the minority

political party to appoint Minority Principal Officers as it has

happened in the past, which he (Gbajabiamila) benefitted from.

The group said Gbajabiamila must have to tell Nigerians how he emerged

as Minority Leader of the House of Representatives in 2007 and 2011

under Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)

respectively as well as 2015 under APC. Was it through letters from

his parties to the Speaker nominating him to lead the minority

parties? Were AC and ACN the only minority parties in 2007 and 2011

that Gbajabiamila was nominated as Minority Leader?

The ONM recalled that as it was the usual practice in the House, the

PDP forwarded names of Minority Leadership of the House in a letter

dated June 21, 2019 to the Speaker. The letter was duly received on

June 26, 2019 and contrary to the House rule that all correspondence

must be read at the plenary, the Speaker refused to read this letter.

Warning that the House of Representatives under Gbajabiamila was

already showing the signs of dictatorship and flagrant disregard for

rules and laid down procedures, the ONM apart from speaker and deputy

speaker, no other principal officer of the House is picked through

election.

The group described the Speaker’s as a continuation of the APC affront

on the constitution of the country, pointing out that those sought to

conquer the judiciary was now out to put the National Assembly under

their feet.

Our question is; is it now the duty of the Speaker to appoint

principal officers be it Majority or Minority?

As a group, whose interest is strict adherence to the rule of law and

respect for rights of political parties, we are further miffed that

the Speaker has a leader and that leader is in Lagos, watching his

political son turning himself to an emperor less than one month of his

assumption of office.

He even threatened a member of the house by saying; “If you test the

resolve of this house, you will regret it” and went on to rule out

another one who raised point of order saying; “even before you say

what your point of order is about, I rule you out of order.”

This leader that is watching and encouraging Gbajabiamila to arrogate

to himself the powers to appoint minority principal officers  will

tomorrow say he wants to contest the Presidency of Nigeria.

We will seat back and watch how Nigerians will allow such a leader

that is encouraging his political son to disobey the law will succeed

in his ambition to become the President of Nigeria.

As for us as a group, at the appropriate time, we will again remind

Nigerians of this leader, who kicked against zoning in Nigeria when it

suited him and canvassed support for same when he knew that zoning

won’t protect his interests.

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