By Charles Adingupu
The controversy over who becomes the next Speaker of the House of Representatives gets even more complicated as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, officially threw his hat in the ring to join the speakership race.
In a defiant move against the decision of his party to zone the position to the North-west, Wase told the crowd at his official declaration in Abuja over the weekend that it’s his turn to occupy the exulted seat at the House of Representatives.
Echoing the President-elect Wase used the Yoruba phrase, “emi lokan,” which translates to “It’s my turn.”
The phrase which is gradually becoming accepted in Nigeria’s political lexicon was popularised by the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.
“At this point, I will use the words of my leader, emi lokan, emi lokan, emi lokan”, Mr Wase said, referring to Mr Tinubu as his leader even as he rejects the latter’s endorsement of a different aspirant.
Mr Wase, who is from Plateau State, stated that the ruling party must follow the Nigerian constitution in ensuring that the North-central is not excluded from the distribution of offices even though the constitution does not state how such offices should be allocated.
“It must also be noted that it is only the North-central in the entire country that has not produced the Speaker in 24 years after the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999.
“Fellow Nigerians, Nigeria is built on the supremacy of the law and the sacredness of the constitution for justice to reign and to keep the peace in the country,” he said.
It would be recalled that the APC had earlier zoned the presiding officers of the 10th Assembly. The party said it decided on the zoning arrangement after consultations with Mr Tinubu who will be inaugurated as president on 29 May.
The new House of Representatives will be inaugurated in June 13, about two weeks after the inauguration of the president.
The APC has zoned the positions of speaker and deputy senate president to the North-west, while the senate president and deputy speaker have been zoned to South-south and South-east respectively.
The APC, which has the highest number of seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, settled for Mr Godswill Akpabio (South-south) and Barau Jibrin (North-west) for the positions of senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively.
The party also endorsed Tajudeen Abbas (North-west) and Ben Kalu (South-east) for speaker and deputy speaker respectively.
Mr Wase is one of the leading APC lawmakers opposed to the party’s zoning arrangement. Others include House Leader Alhassan Doguwa, Muktar Betara, Sada Soli and Yusuf Gagdi.
