Idris Wase, the immediate past Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, said he defied his party by contesting the Speakership because his zone was marginalised in the power sharing arrangement in the National Assembly.
Yusuf Abass was declared Speaker yesterday after he defeated Wase and one other candidate by scoring an overwhelming 353 votes.
The former Deputy Speaker had shunned the appeal of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to vie for the position, after they threw their weight behind Abass as the Speaker in the 10th NASS.
Abass was sworn in on Tuesday alongside Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker who emerged unopposed.
But speaking after the inuaguration, Wase who represents Plateau state, said he needed to prove a point to the party which marginalised the North Central in the power sharing arrangement after the APC won the election earlier this year.
The former Deputy Speaker in his congratulatory message to the new Speaker, said in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, that his decision to contest the position is “a case for what I considered a lack of equity and fairness in the manner in which my party’s zoning was done much more than it was about winning.”
“As a politician who has been engaging in elections since 2007 and has returned to the House for the 5th term, I verily understand that every contest must generate its necessary contentions. However, in the end, we have to come together to confront the bigger matters of stability of the Parliament and enriching Legislative Governance to deepen our collective democracy.
“In this light, I wish to once again congratulate the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, and Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, on their victory and urge my supporters and well-wishers, as well as my fellow contestants, to give them all the cooperation required to achieve a stable and united 10th House of Representatives.”
Meanwhile, the new Speaker has assured Nigerians that the House under his leadership will not be a rubber before stamp, in response to suggestions in some quarters that the current leadership in NASS will be an appendage of the Executive, because of the manner the Principal Officers came into their positions.
