By Onwe Wisdom
While the jostling, permutations and scheming for the 10th Assembly Speakership tightens, the majority leader of the House, Rt. Hon. Ado Doguwa has pulled out from the race and endorsed the most acceptable candidate, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas PhD.
Doguwa who endorsed Abbas after withdrawing from the race yesterday during a meeting organised by the Joint Task Force of the 10th assembly members-elect led two other aspirants, Hon. Abubakar Makki and Tunji Olawuyi to endorse Abbas hence, the collapse of the G7.
Recall, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa who declared his ambition and officially joined the race on the 3rd of May noted during the declaration that his ambition is predicated on the condition that his party, the All Progressive Congress(APC) zone the position to North West, his primary constituency.
” I am a strong party man and I have stated categorically clear in other fora that because of my absolute loyalty to the party, and my unflinching respect for the party supremacy, my ambition will be predicated only on the condition that the party zone the Speakership position to North West zone which is my primary constituency”.
The party having zoned the Speakership and endorsed the most acceptable candidate by members-elect, it is expedient to tow in that direction.
Members-Elect, bearing in mind the political realities cum the state of the nation, would want to prioritize national interest against primordial sentiment, hence, the demand that Nigeria gets it right by entrenching right leadership in her institutions, champion the scheming and permutations for the 10th assembly Leadership.
It is true that the Nigeria nation state is faced with plethora of issues, more true is that all these challenges bedeviling the nation resulted from the dearth of leadership which the nation have been plagued with.
The elation of Nigerians over the victory of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the mantra of “Renewed Hope” will be short lived as the incoming administration won’t be able to make good their campaign promises if the legislative arm is not piloted by a competent legislator who is not just familiar with legislative routine but also has the requisite experience, working relationship with other colleagues and above all knot in the ideologies and programs of the incoming government.
Underpinning this background, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas has continued to gain endorsement across party lines all over the geopolitical zones of the country at a time when others aspiring for the speakership are facing rejection from Nigerians, party leadership, civil society groups as well as members-elect.
Attesting to Hon. Tajudeen Abba’s acceptance across the country is the cross pullination of endorsement of his candidature across party line, party leadership, president elect, party faithfuls,support groups and even aspirants to same office.
Hon. Abbas Tajudeen is most qualified on account of his rich legislative experience, versatility, capacity and unmatched skill in human relation; all of these are required ingredients for anyone seeking to lead the House as the primus inter pares; with a career spanning over four decades, during which he functioned variously as a teacher, private sector operator and finally a lawmaker, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen acquired a mixed of experience which prepared him adequately for the position he now aspires to. With over 10 motions and a record of 73 bills.
Hon. Tajudeen, a third term lawmaker who has either been a deputy chairman or chairman of important House committees such as legislative compliance, solid minerals, land transport, including chairmanship of several adhoc committees between 2015 and 2022.
Dr. Abbas come highly prepared and ready to provide qualitative leadership to his colleagues in the House of Representatives.
As it’s often said, the deep calls to the deep. With the pedigree and the reputation for effective governance already associated with the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; he needs equally, effective and competent leadership in both chambers of the National Assembly to complement him and help deliver on his promise of‘Renewed Hope’ for the generality of Nigerians.
It is believe, as a man of quality that Asiwaju Tinubu is known to be, he would readily appreciates the need to have other equally competent individuals who he can seamlessly work with in order to fast track the delivery of his good plans for Nigerians.
Nigerians believe that Hon. Abbas Tajudeen fit perfectly into the category of quality individuals that Asiwaju would look forward to working with.And the emergence of Hon. TJ Abbas as Speaker would strengthen the performance of the House, enhance service delivery to the Nigerian people, promote transparency in the conduct of legislative duties and deliver a people-parliament that Nigerians would be proud of.