Gbajabiamila set to officially declare House speakership bid

The majority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, will on Sunday officially declare his intention to run for office of the speaker in the ninth assembly.

According to Mr. Gbajabiamila’s office, the event will start by 2pm at the Lagos/Osun hall of Transcorp Hilton hotel, Abuja.

The Lagos lawmaker who represents Surulere II federal constituency will be returning to the house for a fifth term.

Mr Gbajabiamila’s office announced Abdulmumin Jibrin, a Kano lawmaker, as the director general of the campaign.

Mr Jibrin is a former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations before he fell out with the house leadership in 2016.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership is expected to announce the zoning for the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The APC leadership recently declared support for Yobe senator, Ahmed Lawan, to become the next Senate President.

The move was condemned by other APC lawmakers including Borno senator, Ali Ndume, who also seeks to be the Senate president.

Mr Ndume who is also from Borno state has vowed to continue with his ambition, saying he enjoys the support of many elected APC senators.

The APC enjoys a clear majority in the incoming House of Representatives, winning over 200 of the 360 seats.

The party is expected to produce the speaker, but as it happened in 2015, a different candidate other than that endorsed by the party leadership may contest the election.

While both Messrs Lawan and Gbajabiamila were endorsed by the party for the positions in 2015, but Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as the Senate President and Speaker of the House respectively.

The two winners later defected from the APC to the PDP.

So far, there are at least 10 members that have indicated interest for the position.

PREMIUM TIMES will bring you live updates of the proceedings at Mr Gbajabiamila’s declaration.