A total of 183 first-term House of Representatives members-elect have endorsed former majority leader, Femi Gbajabiamila and Idris Wase as their choice candidates for the position of the speaker and deputy speaker ahead of Tuesday elections of the principal officer in the ninth assembly.
The new members, according to the Chairman of the Forum, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, are drawn across all political parties and have shown support to both candidates at the grand endorsement of Gbajabiamila and Wase as Speaker/Deputy Speaker on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Director-General of the campaign organisation, Abdulmumin Jubrin, said they are not taking anything for granted, owing to the experiences of 2015.
“We are not taking anything for granted; we have seen what happened in 2015 and loose ends will be tightened, and what we will be doing in the next few days is to continue to tighten the knot and we are confident with what we have done.
“We know we are winning this election, each one of us, please take this as a personal commitment and responsibility, let’s move over to what we agreed a long time ago,” he added.
However, Gbajabiamila thanked the 183 first-term members for their support and assured them that his heart is with them.
“It has been a long journey, we are almost at the end but these last three days, we will be giving it a last push.”
He added that with the support of his campaign as speaker has received, he aims to establish synergy with the executive, in the interest of nation-building.
“We have gotten the endorsement of the President, the APC, Nigerians who are not even members of the National Assembly, but most importantly, we have gotten the endorsement across party lines of members-elect of the ninth assembly, the most important of all.
“We need serious collaboration with the executive, I have been here for four years where there was a disconnect between the executive and the legislative arms of government and what was the result of that disconnect? Stagnation,” he added.
Lawmakers will on Tuesday, vote their principals who will lead them for the next four years in the ninth national Assembly.
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