Reps speakership: Abbas extends olive branch to aggrieved aspirants

  The All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidate for speaker of the incoming National Assembly, Tajuddeen Abbas (APC, Kaduna), has assured that they are reaching out to aggrieved aspirants in order to have a peaceful 10th House of Representatives. He stated this while speaking to journalists after a meeting behind closed doors with members of […]

 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidate for speaker of the incoming National Assembly, Tajuddeen Abbas (APC, Kaduna), has assured that they are reaching out to aggrieved aspirants in order to have a peaceful 10th House of Representatives.

He stated this while speaking to journalists after a meeting behind closed doors with members of the Joint Task-10th Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday night.

Daily Trust reports that the Joint Task-10th Assembly is a multi-party platform of all the political parties that won seats in the incoming House of Representatives.

The meeting was attended by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, leadership and members of the Joint Task-10th Assembly and some members-elect from opposition political parties.

He expressed happiness for being found worthy by the house as a consensus candidate for the seat, noting that he was humbled and wanted to work with his colleagues for the betterment of the nation’s democracy and its citizens.

He said, “We are reaching out to them. We are in the process, we have reached out to so many, and we will continue reaching out to all of them.

“Before the end of next week, I assure you we will reach out to the entire candidates, all the aspirants, we will implore them and ask them to come on board so that we can work for the good of the institution and Nigeria.

“By next week, we are going to do our official declaration. So, we’ll come out with our 16-point agenda. In 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, then you will know what we have for the members, what we have for this country.”

On his part, the nominated deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu, said his choice would expand the party’s presence in the South East, which was known to be an opposition stronghold.

He said, “The party has started the strategy for the 2027 elections by making sure that they have a foot in the South Eastern region. What they have done with this nomination is in the spirit of inclusion.

“The South East is going to feel the power of cohesion, and national loyalty is going to be driven by virtue of this that has taken place.

“So, it is a wise decision to include the South East in the structure of the government that is being formed.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the Joint Task-10th Assembly, Usman Bello Kumo (APC, Gombe), said their forum had already resolved to work with whatever the party decided and that it was time to consolidate and reach out to others in order to forge a common front.