The lawmaker representing Zaria Federal Constituency, Kaduna State in the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has revealed the reason he was chosen as the consensus candidate for the Speaker of the 10th National Assembly.
OsunDaily News had earlier reported that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) nominated Abbas and Kalu for the principal positions.
Addressing journalists after a closed-door meeting of the Joint Task-10th Assembly on Tuesday night, Abbas said the APC leadership chose him to be the next Speaker of the House based on competence.
The lawmaker added that he is so happy and inspired to be chosen as the next speaker by the ruling party.
Abbas said, “I feel elated, I feel inspired because I believe that if the party is going to use competence as its yardstick, I’m the right person to actually be picked. So for the fact that they did what I expected them to do, I feel very elated; I feel very satisfied.”
Responding to a question on other aspirants who are aggrieved with the alleged imposition of candidates by the APC, Abbas disclosed that efforts were being made to pacify them.
He said, “We are in the process (of reconciling with aggrieved aspirants). We have reached out to so many (of them), and we will continue reaching out to all of them. Before the end of next week, I assure you – all the candidates and all the contestants – we will beg them. We will ask them to come on board so that we can work for the good of the institution.”
Speaking about the plans he has for the 10th House, Abbas said, “Please, I will ask you to wait a little. By next week, we are going to do our official declaration. So, we will come out with our 16-point agenda. With that agenda, you will see all the areas we are going to work on in the 10th Assembly.
“I welcome you. I invite you to the declaration which will take place next week. We will give you the date. Then, you will know what we have for the members, what we have for this country.”
