… as $10,000 gift offered as apology
He asked us to support Hon. T.J (Abbass) or not expect to chair or even be members of top committees in the 10th Assembly. It is the height of disrespect.”
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The tension in the All Progressives Caucus (APC) in the House of Representatives has heightened following a reported disagreement between Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and the lawmakers over Hon. Tajudeen Abass.
It will be recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC on Monday announced the zoning of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House position to the Northwest and Southeast respectively. It further named Hon. Tajudeen Abass and House Spokesman, Benjamin Kalu for both positions and asked members to support the candidates.
The announcement was greeted with widespread rejection and call for a reversal of the arrangement. Other aspirants under the platform of G7 have vowed not to respect the agreement.
Amidst the heat generated by the party’s position, current members of the House of Representatives are on a war path with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, following what they allegedly described as disrespect meted on them by his Chief of Staff, Olarenwaju Smart.
It was gathered that Smart, who is leading the team canvassing support of the old and newly elected lawmakers for the APC anointed Hon. Abass, allegedly threatened them in a meeting, to ensure they vote for the anointed candidate or end up without having any “juicy committee” in the incoming assembly.
It was learnt that the development infuriated lawmakers who were already upset over the illegal amendment of the House rules which has been attributed to Gbajabiamila and led to an attempted last minute impeachment against him.
According to a lawmaker loyal to Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase who requested anonymity, many of them left the meeting very angry and bared their minds to Gbajabiamila.
He said: “It was quite dehumanising and belittling to be addressed like that by someone who has never contested elections, even for a local government chairman or councillor position.
“He expressly told us, members and members-elect of the House of Representatives who went through the rigours of tough elections to get where we are today, people who campaigned to get votes and went out of our ways to get funds for our election, that we had better support Hon. T.J (Abbass) or not expect to chair or even be members of top committees in the 10th Assembly. It is the height of disrespect.”
In a bid to appease the members, Speaker Gbajabiamila allegedly gave out $10, 000 each to them as an “apology” for the behaviour of his aide and to solicit their “support” for the anointed candidates.