As the race for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 10^th National Assembly heightens, some of the aspirants have been said to be lobbying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) to influence the decision of the party on zoning.

Daily Trust gathered that some of the frontline aspirants are deploying financial and other resources to curry favour, a development that was believed to be behind the delay of the APC to take decision on the matter, leaving room for speculations.

One of the sources at the APC national secretariat who confided in our reporter, alleged that a particular aspirant who wants the party to leave the Speakership position open for the North has offered $10,000 to some members of the APC NWC.

According to the source, the aspirant wants the position to be zoned to the North and the Senate President to the South which will place him in an advantage.

However, some members of the APC NWC who spoke to our reporter on telephone yesterday acknowledged that the party leadership, including the NWC, is engaging the aspirants as part of the move to have a seamless National Assembly leadership election.

One of the members who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “You cannot stop people from making speculative assumptions on issues like this. It is all part of politics. Everyone has his ways of playing his political games.

“However, I am telling you that I am not aware of anybody being bribed, but the party will make its position known.”

On his part, another member of the APC NWC, Chidi Duru, who also spoke to our reporter on telephone, said while the speculations on what is happening cannot be the true reflections of things, the party is not resting on its oars to get it right.

“In a nutshell, what I am saying to you is that if there’s any inducement as to financial or anything at all; then the person must be going out of the ambit of the directive given by the president-elect and the party itself.”

About a dozen of returning members of the House have indicated interest to contest for the Speaker’s seat. (Daily Trust)

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