Some Members-Elect of the House of Representatives are currently on a war path with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, following what they described as disrespect meted on them over choice of who succeeds Gbaja as Speaker, by his Chief of Staff, Olarenwaju Smart.
There has been intense tussle over who emerges as new speaker, even as the leadership of the ruling party in conjunction with the President-Elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, recently selected Tajudeen Abbass, as there preferred candidate.
This development hasn’t gone down well with the other aspirants and the opposition parties, who had subsequently expressed their disillusionment.
It was gathered that Smart, who is coordinating support of the old and newly elected lawmakers for the APC anointed Tajudeen Abbass, has been reaching out to threaten members to ensure they vote for the anointed candidate or end up without having any “juicy committee” in the incoming assembly.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a lawmaker who belongs to the camp of Deputy Speaker Ahmed Idris Wase, said many of them are deeply upset and some have proceeded to report the matter 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.”
The aggrieved member-elect disclosed futher: “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.”
It was learnt that the development heightened tension among the lawmakers who were already aggrieved over the illegal amendment of the House rules which has been attributed to Gbajabiamila and has led to talks of a last minute impeachment .
It is reported that in a bid to placate the members, Speaker Gbajabiamila has been doling out large sums of money up to $10, 000 each to them to “apologise” and to solicit their “support.”
