10th assembly: Opposition parties eye speakership, to nominate ‘acceptable candidate’

The house of representatives minority caucuses for the 10th national assembly have indicated interest to contest the speakership and deputy positions.

The resolution of opposition parties is contained in a communique issued on Tuesday night after their meeting held in Abuja.

The parties are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Young People Party (YPP).

The communique was signed by Fred Agbedi (PDP), convener, and co-conveners — Abdulmumin Jibrin, (NNPP), Gaza Gbefwi (SDP), Dennis Agbo (LP), Idris Salman (ADC), Agbodike Pascal (APGA), Chinwe Nnabuife (YPP), Kingsley Chinda (PDP), among others.

The election to produce the principal officers for the 10th National Assembly will take place on June 13.

The caucuses said they have set up an eleven-member committee to “scout for credible and acceptable candidates that would vie for those offices, and then actively seek the unification of Nigerians along the ethno-religious line”.

“The greater majority with more than 180 elected members (being over 50 percent of the elected members) will remain one indivisible coalition during the 10th national assembly, with the interest of the country as its driving force,” the communique reads.

“That the greater majority of the 10th national assembly will be continually guided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the collective interest of Nigerians being its major concern.

“To assure Nigerians not to lose hope due to the country’s current unpleasant situation, including the disunity plaguing the nation, which is the direct consequence of APC’s misrule and that the greater majority of the incoming 10th national assembly will remedy these problems as a matter of priority.

“The great majority will continue to unify the coalition of opposition parties so that it can be an effective check on the ruling party in order to safeguard the rule of law.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) won 175 house of representatives seats of the total results declared so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The ruling party has the majority seats.

However, the opposition political parties have 181 seats. The PDP has 117, LP has 35 and NNPP controls 19 seats.

Others are APGA which has five seats, while the ADC and SDP have two each and the YPP has one.

The minority caucuses were inaugurated in April to form an alliance ahead of the inauguration of the 10th assembly.