Member representing Gombi/Hong federal constituency of Adamawa State in the House of Representatives, Yusuf Buba Yakub, has emerged as the first major challenger to Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila ambition to become Speaker of the green chamber in the 9th Assembly.
Yakub, who unfolded his leadership challenge yesterday, said that his sole mission in the contest was to foster peace between the three arms of government for a speedy democratic growth.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Yakub said that he’s qualified just like any other two-term member to vie for the speakership of the House.
He argued that it will be in the interest of the country and his political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, to allow the status quo to remain as it concerns power structures, zoning and rotations.
He said: “The only qualification to vie for post of Speaker according to the rules of the House is to be a ranking member and I am a ranking member because I am returning for the second time to the House. And before you even qualify to become a member of the House of Representatives, you must have fulfilled every qualification as a Nigerian as stipulated in the constitution. So, I have fulfilled those qualifications, so I am qualified.
“One key reason why I want to vie for speakership is to create harmony between all arms of government which is very key because our major enemy today in Nigeria with the present situation we found ourselves is time.
“The northeast has a better chance of producing the speaker because the status quo presently is that the Speaker is from the northeast, the Senate president is from the north central and the president is from the northwest and the vice president is from the south-west. So, the northeast has a better chance and you can see from the elections that just took place that the northwest where the President comes from has the highest votes, followed by the northeast which came second”, he said.
DAILY POST reports that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has won over 111 House of Representatives seat which is a huge number for influencing who becomes the Speaker in the 9th National Assembly.
