As the race heats up as to who emerges the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Peoples Democratic Party is keeping a tight lid over who it will support.
So who among the top contenders for speaker is the PDP caucus backing?
Nobody, if you take the word of the party’s caucus leader, Hon. Leo Ogor.
Ogor, the current chief whip of the House and the only surviving one of all the principal officers in the House from the PDP (deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha lost out in his race to be Imo governor while majority leader, Mulikat Akande, also failed in her bid to return), told journalists that the House will not tolerate any candidate imposition and will elect a Speaker based on transparency and accountability.
The frontrunners for the seat presently are Hon Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos), the current Minority Leader, Hon. Yakubu Dogara (APC, Bauchi); Hon. Pally Iriase (APC, Edo) and Hon. Abdulmunmin Jibrin (APC, Kano).
The others, considered outsiders, are Burka Goni (APC, Yobe) and Hon. Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno).
In Ogor’s words, “There is nothing like endorsing anybody for Christ sake. First and foremost, you know I am a returnee and I lead the caucus in the House at the moment. I will tell you that we have not held any meeting with Dogara neither have we started discussing anything with him.
“We are going to elect a Speaker that is going to be based on transparency, accountability and a Speaker we know definitely well that will speak for all of us. We cannot sit down and automatically endorse somebody. It is not done that way.
“Let me also point to one funny thing in the House. They don’t want a scenario where somebody dictates for them. You saw what happened during the Tambuwal era. It is not different. So my appeal is to allow the House choose the candidate so that we don’t end up picking a wrong candidate out of annoyance.”
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