The tussle for the Speaker of the 8th House of Representatives has
thrown up three notable lawmakers for the post that will be vacated in
June by Aminu Tambuwal.
The lawmakers are a three-time returnee and former Chairman, House
Committee on Customs, Yakubu Dogara; incumbent Minority Leader,
Femi Gbajabiamila, and the current Deputy House Leader, Leo
Ogor.
While Dogara (Bauchi State) and Gbajabiamila (Lagos State) are
members of the All Progressives Congress, Ogor (Delta State) is of the
Peoples Democratic Party.
Gbajabiamila, a four-time returnee lawmaker , was the deputy House
minority leader till the end of the 2007-2011 term. He emerged as
minority leader in 2011.
A lawyer, Gbajabiamila, is credited by his colleagues for his “oratory
and erudite approach” to debates in the House, which gave the
opposition loud presence in the outgoing session.
Dogara, also a lawyer, is reputed to be the “inside research hand and
intellect”, who assisted many House committees to successfully conclude
major assignments referred to them since 2007.
Ogor, though the deputy House leader, functioned more as the majority
leader, helping to direct the course of debates for the PDP, whose
sitting Leader in the House is Mulikat Akande-Adeola.
Investigations by The PUNCH on Monday showed that all three
lawmakers had initiated contacts with many members and had set up
campaign groups to actualise their plans.
Findings indicated that Gbajabiamila was originally considered to step
into the position of the majority leader “naturally, “ with the APC
assuming full majority control of the House after the March 28 polls.
However, he was said to have been pressured to vie for the speakership
after it became apparent that the North would have the President
(North-West) and the Senate President (North-Central or North-East).
A source close to the minority leader’s camp, said, “Gbajabiamila is the
best material from the South-West in terms of legislative experience and
House leadership at the moment.
“The South-West has the Vice-President, but since the South-South and
South-East have shut themselves out in a way, it becomes necessary for
the South-West to take up the speakership.
“The North has President and they will also take the Senate President ;
so?”
However, The PUNCH learnt that Dogara’s backers want him to
have the seat because the “North-East suffered marginalisation” since
2011.
One of his confidants in the House said, “Dogara sacrificed his
ambition to be deputy speaker in 2011, which ended up with Emeka
Ihedioha (South-East) assuming the seat.
“Now, it is his turn to be speaker. The North-East didn’t get key
elective political posts since 2011, so if the zone produces the speaker
and even the senate president, we are just balancing up the equation.
“In any case, the senate president is most likely going to be a North-
Central position.”
Findings on Monday also revealed that Ogor, though a member of the
PDP, was already reminding his reelected colleagues that the speakership
was not a party position.
He said, “The position of speaker is about who has the knowledge of
the job; not about a particular political party.
“It is not even a matter for zoning, which is not recognised by our laws.
This is going to be an almost new House, which will require the
administrative skills of someone like Ogor to manage without rancour.’’
Ogor’s backers made reference to 2011 when Tambuwal emerged as the
speaker in defiance of the PDP, which had zoned the position to the
South-West.
They argued that the House backed Tambuwal not necessarily because
he was from the majority party, but because of his “experience, quality,
leadership abilities and good rapport.’’
“These same factors were the reasons the House still stood behind
Tambuwal even after he defected to the APC in October 2014”,
another Ogor campaigner added.
When The PUNCH sought their comments on Mondy, Gbajabiamila
and Ogor tried hard to avoid admitting the obvious.
They asked our correspondent to wait till the National Assembly would
have reconvened after the governorship and House of Assembly elections.



http://www.punchng.com/news/speakership-gbajabiamila-ogor-dogara-top-list-of-aspirants/

The speaker position is between the NE and SS, Gbajabiamila will have to make do with the deputy speaker position ...Leo Ogor is just testing the waters, the best he can hope for is the minority leader post.

modath:

The speaker position is between the NE and SS, Gbajabiamila will have to make do with the deputy speaker position ... Leo Ogor is just testing the waters, the best he can hope for is the minority leader post.

I thought there are three HOR elects from Imo state....are they first term members? If they are not first term, why are they not in the race?

Lagos will affect Nigeria positively

Femi Gbajabiamila is my preferred candidate, but I don't see him being the Speaker since he is from the South West as Yemi Osinbajo.

Since the President is from the Northwest, Vice-president from the Southwest, the potential Senate President from the North Central, it would only be fair to zone the Speakership to the South South or Southeast. But since the outgoing Deputy Speaker is from the Southeast, then the South South should be considered for this.

So far, out of the 9 House of Reps Seats from Edo State, APC cleared the 3 in Edo North, I don't know of the Central/Southern axis. Out of the 3 from Edo North, 2 are second term Members. Considering the fact that Pally Iriase from Owan Federal Constituency was a one-time Deputy Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, then he should be considered for this. If our Senator is not a ranking Senator, our Reps are. So they should be considered!

Leo Ogor should go and rest. APC would be so foolish to even consider Leo Ogor presiding over an APC-dominated House. Never!

The speaker position is going to depend on the out come Samson osagie's senatorial election this weekend. If osagie wins,then the speaker will go to either sw or Ne,but if he loses, then nothing will stop pally Iriase from Edo state from becoming the speaker.