Some House of Representatives members have accused the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila of plotting to place his loyalist as his successor ahead of the National Assembly election.

New Telegraph understands that Gbajabiamila would not be retained as Speaker of the 10^th National Assembly because he is from the South-West as the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

However, the Speaker had last week met with candidates jostling to replace him in the Green Chamber.

Those present at the meeting were, Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase; Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Aliyu Betara; Chairman, Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi; Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu; Chairman, Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbas; Chairman, Committee on Disaster Preparedness, Abdulraheem Olawuyi; Chairman, Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; Makki Yalleman and Sani Jaji.

According to multiple.sources, Gbajabiamila is reportedly pushing for the speakership for the Chairman of the House Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbass.

He claimed that the loyalists of the Speaker, such as the Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Jimi Benson, and his counterpart in the NDDC Committee, Bunmi Tunji Ojo, are arrowheads of the move to back Abbas.

The source said, “Right now, we are facing a series of issues that need to be addressed as we prepare for the inauguration in June. As a member of the 9^th National Assembly, some of us know what is going on, and we all witnessed a lot of things.

“So, how can the outgoing Speaker insist he must install someone as Speaker as his stooge?

“Does he want to have another term? As far as the North is concerned, the current Speaker will not be allowed to install his choice on us because that will be an insult.

“What is most painful is that the speaker has been calling some freshers, telling them that they must go with Tajudeen Abbass as Speaker and that they must leave whoever they are working for.

“We know that he has stationed his cronies to be the arrowheads of the Abbass campaign.

“Is that not enough? Why is he now demarketing others because he wants to have total control of the House even after his tenure as Speaker?

“As we watch events, those of us from the north are of the opinion that in the next one or two weeks, we should call a meeting and explore means to stop Gbaja from imposing a Speaker on us.

“We have many options at hand, and we will unleash them once he comes out openly from his hiding place.”

New Telegraph reports that those pushing to be Speaker include the Deputy Speaker, Idris Ahmed Wase; Abass; Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi; Chairman, of House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara; Chairman, House Committee on Science Research Institutes, Olaide Akinremi; Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu; Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Abdulraheem Olawuyi; Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Makki Yalleman; and Sani Jaji. (New Telegraph)

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