May 26, 2011 01:25AM


After a lull occasioned by the House of Representatives adjustment of internal voting rules last week, the South West push for the speakership of the lower chamber gained support yesterday with the House North East caucus backing the quest.

The unexpected move yesterday shored up a support base that already has the South-South, South-West, and North-Central lawmakers backing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party formular.

That leaves out only the North-West and the South-East, which both planned a coalition for the speakership and the deputy speakership respectively, after a refusal of the party to zone the seat to the South East.

At a briefing yesterday, after a closed meeting of members from the region, Anthony Madwatte, the chairman of the caucus, said the zone will oppose any decision that will discard current arrangement since it affords the region the deputy speakership - a position it currently holds.

"The caucus believes that since the zoning arrangement entails that the status quo be maintained, that invariably means that the zone should be allowed to produce the next deputy Speaker - a position the zone currently occupies," the caucus said in a statement read by Mr Madwatte.

"The caucus supports the zoning arrangement of political offices at the national level, which cedes the deputy Speakership to the North East," it added.

The position came as the lower chamber faced a renewed steam in the race for the new Speaker when the seventh National Assembly is inaugurated early June.

Early yesterday, the current Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, was in a closed door meeting for hours with the elected members who will be coming to the House for the first time.

Mr Bankole reportedly advised the members to "choose wise leaders as the end would justify such a choice." He said choosing wise leaders would help the nation to move forward because it is the end that matters, not the beginning.

A representative of the group, Abdulmumuni Jubril, said the essence of the meeting is to rub minds with the Speaker and the leadership of the House, refusing to state the members' position regarding the election of a new Speaker.

Mr Jubril only said "this kind of discussion would continue until the seventh House is inaugurated; all we are doing is dialogue and consultations, compromise and discus all vital issues.

"Our emphasis is for us to get to know ourselves better and see how we can forge ahead in the new House; the meeting is a mutual one," he added.

The move by the North-East is seen as a blow to a proposed partnership between the North-West represented by Aminu Tambawal who hails from Sokoto State (for Speaker), and Emeka Ihedioha, the current Chief Whip of the House (as the deputy Speaker), who hails from Imo State.

The partnership was planned as part of a defiance pushed by the House against the PDP zoning which alloted the speakership position to the South-West.

Currently, two members from the North-East are gunning for the deputy Speaker's position. However, the caucus said it had not endorsed a particular lawmaker in the zone for the deputy speakership but insisted that "any other arrangement that seeks to re-zone the office of the deputy Speaker to another zone other than North East will amount to total disregard for the entire North East region and our contributions to the Nigeria Project."

Still, some lawmakers from the region are said to be withholding their support for the decision. Some who attended their closed meeting later backed off and refused to meet with the press.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5704986-146/story.csp

Very strange bedfellows, this NW and SE. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. . . this is not the first time they've teamed up to my zone's detriment 

I'm glad their plot is being foiled

Keep posting and replying your topic.

Keep talking to yourself and making yourself happy. Mtchew

Jackpot defaecates on thread. Big one for that matter. Lol

Hehe. You can defecate on this thread. However, Nigeria is currently defecating on you

As usual, the Ibo man loses out. Even the SS is against him!

Fo*ols, the SS wont even support you for Speaker, but yet, their deluded Ibo mind thinks they'll support them for President.

Lmao.

^^errr. . .why is your siggy this lame just like a piggy's

ekt_bear:

Hehe. You can defecate on this thread. However, Nigeria is currently defecating on you

as you've entered this thread, you have marched on my faeces. Check your soles. Lol

Hmm this is instresting

The S east will defnitly be worse off if they lose the speakership position (which they will from ol indication). With the PDP chiarmanship position "zoned" to the N east, the S east have to do with the SGF position which is a far cry 4rm bin what the igbos want.

jackpot:

as you've entered this thread, you have marched on my faeces. Check your soles. Lol

Hehe

Anything that makes the enemies of the SW despair makes my heart glad.

^^^^
So for all your rant about competence above mediocrity, you rather see the Obj stooge become a Speaker over more competent members of the house or reps?
Your hypocrisy knows no bounds sir! You are as much a tribalist as they come! shm

^-- If they want to use merit for positions, they must use it for ALL of them.

Senate president, senate deputy, all the way down.

Don't just use it alone for the position zoned to the SW.

And truth be told. . . if it were merit alone as the criterion, there is no way GEJ would have ever been selected president. So no GEJ supporters should then turn around and cry for "merit."

Plus. . . which more competent member will be chosen?  I'm supposed to believe that this Tambuwal fellow is going to be better? Based on what evidence?

I'm not keen on an OBJ stooge being selected, but neither am I keen on the SW losing what it is due unless everyone else's position is up for grabs too.

^^^
I couldn't care less who got what position in the house of rep or senate. Bankole used the position to line his pocket, and enrich multitude of of LovePeddler across the land, to the detriment of his. Etteh was no better when she was there.

But on the logic of it, SW Speaker, while it will be good for GEJ/Obj is not in the best interest of the ACN/SW. The PDP/SW Speaker will be deployed to the maximum effect to weaken the Tinubu/Fashola leadership of SW, and bring back SW into the fold of the PDP; and of course line his pocket (the guy looks like someone lacking in integrity from what I have read about him)

But like you said, PDP has zoned it to SW, so be it. Let see how it all pan out.

By the way, quit your gloating over winners and losers, it doesn't suit a fellow of your intellect; unless of cause I am right in my first assumption that you are as tribalistic as they come!

emeka_gh:

^^^
I couldn't care less who got what position in the house of rep or senate. Bankole used the position to line his pocket, and enrich multitude of of LovePeddler across the land, to the detriment of his. Etteh was no better when she was there.

I'm not convinced that the position will necessarily serve the SW that well. You are correct, there is a tendency for whoever occupies it to look out only for their own personal interest.

But on the logic of it, SW Speaker, while it will be good for GEJ/Obj is not in the best interest of the ACN/SW.

This is the whole problem with your reasoning. The interests of the ACN overlap 90% of the time with that of the SW, but not all the time. This is one of those times when the interests of the ACN differs from that of the SW region as a whole.

The PDP/SW Speaker will be deployed to the maximum effect to weaken the Tinubu/Fashola leadership of SW, and bring back SW into the fold of the PDP;

Absolutely fine by me. Only way you'll be able to do this is to deliver more to the SW than the current crop of leaders in the ACN are doing. If this PDP speaker delivers, then the PDP in the SW will grow stronger. But not through destroying the ACN, but through strengthening the region.

and of course line his pocket (the guy looks like someone lacking in integrity from what I have read about him)

*Shrug* It will either be him lining his pocket, this Tambuwal guy or some dude from the SE. I'll take my chances that the SW guy will at least try to do something minimally good.

But like you said, PDP has zoned it to SW, so be it. Let see how it all pan out.

Agreed.

By the way, quit your gloating over winners and losers, it doesn't suit a fellow of your intellect; unless of cause I am right in my first assumption that you are as tribalistic as they come!

I'm not gloating at all. I wasn't the one who started the various anti-Yoruba threads after GEJ one, including "The biggest loser is the SW."

ekt_bear:

I'm not convinced that the position will necessarily serve the SW that well. You are correct, there is a tendency for whoever occupies it to look out only for their own personal interest.

This is the whole problem with your reasoning. The interests of the ACN overlap 90% of the time with that of the SW, but not all the time. This is one of those times when the interests of the ACN differs from that of the SW region as a whole.

lol, it's rather a problem with your reasoning, judging from the bundle of contraction you type here. You on one hand agreed that the position will not serve SW well, you continued that the ACN agrees with this, but not the SW. What exactly are trying to say? That what will not serve SW well is good for SW? How about that for contradiction?

Absolutely fine by me. Only way you'll be able to do this is to deliver more to the SW than the current crop of leaders in the ACN are doing. If this PDP speaker delivers, then the PDP in the SW will grow stronger. But not through destroying the ACN, but through strengthening the region.

If he (PDP) delivers for SW, he will deal a blow to ACN! Does that defy logic? Are you not the fellow saying that SW voters vote based on issue? If that is the case, why wont they vote for the fellow who delivers?

*Shrug* It will either be him lining his pocket, this Tambuwal guy or some dude from the SE. I'll take my chances that the SW guy will at least try to do something minimally good.

(for SW)

Tribalism at play?

I'm not gloating at all. I wasn't the one who started the various anti-Yoruba threads after GEJ one, including "The biggest loser is the SW."

True you weren't the one that started that thread, but you are gloating; deal with it!

emeka_gh:

lol, it's rather a problem with your reasoning, judging from the bundle of contraction you type here. You on one hand agreed that the position will not serve SW well, you continued that the ACN agrees with this, but not the SW. What exactly are trying to say? That what will not serve SW well is good for SW? How about that for contradiction?

1. There is a 90% chance that the position will not serve the SW well. It'll probably be another Bankole. In this case, the SW gains nothing, and the ACN also gains nothing.
2. However, there is a 10% chance the guy does a good job, both for Nigeria as a whole and the SW. In this case, the ACN suffers somewhat, since this means a strong challenger against the governor of whichever state the speaker is from.

Long story short, I like the ACN, but my primary loyalty is to the SW. A badly performing SW speaker doesn't hurt the region at all and doesn't really hurt the ACN much either. However, on the off chance that this speaker does well, then the region benefits.

If he (PDP) delivers for SW, he will deal a blow to ACN! Does that defy logic? Are you not the fellow saying that SW voters vote based on issue? If that is the case, why wont they vote for the fellow who delivers?
(for SW)

If the PDP guy performs well, then he'll stand a good chance of running for governor if the ACN guy slips up. I think that is overall a win for the SW, even if it is a loss for the ACN.

Tribalism at play? 

Call it what you like 

True you weren't the one that started that thread, but you are gloating; deal with it! 

Hehe, you might have a point 

ekt_bear:

1. There is a 90% chance that the position will not serve the SW well. It'll probably be another Bankole. In this case, the SW gains nothing, and the ACN also gains nothing.
2. However, there is a 10% chance the guy does a good job, both for Nigeria as a whole and the SW. In this case, the ACN suffers somewhat, since this means a strong challenger against the governor of whichever state the speaker is from.

Long story short, I like the ACN, but my primary loyalty is to the SW. A badly performing SW speaker doesn't hurt the region at all and doesn't really hurt the ACN much either. However, on the off chance that this speaker does well, then the region benefits.
If the PDP guy performs well, then he'll stand a good chance of running for governor if the ACN guy slips up. I think that is overall a win for the SW, even if it is a loss for the ACN.
Call it what you like 
Hehe, you might have a point 

There is a 90% chance that you are confused, and 10% chance that you don't know what you want. Either way, I know your kind.

Nice day!

confused?
**faints**

confused?
**faints**

confused?
**faints**