In a matter of days, the National Assembly will decide on the choice of a new set of presiding officers in the emerging political dispensation. But all eyes appear to be on the contest for the office of Speaker in the House of representatives, writes KUNLE ODEREMI due to the body language of President Bola Tinubu, following the endorsement of Honourable Tajudeen Abbas and Honourable Benjamin Kalu by the All Progressives Congress (APC) top hierarchy as speaker and deputy respectively.
With the inauguration of Senator Bola Tinubu as president, the major focus in the last stage of the transition of power is the choice of principal presiding officers of the National Assembly. The struggle for the key positions of president of the Senate and that of Speaker of the House of Representatives has generated more ripples following the number and the calibre of aspirants.
Coupled with this is the zoning formula to determine the choice necessary to achieve a delicate balance in the scale of power equation and distribution among the geopolitical zones. While the intrigues subsist, the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the National working Committee (NWC) to adopt a formula strongly affirmed the role of party mechanism in watering the exacerbated political temperature.
The endorsement of a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and immediate past Minister for Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio for as president of the Senate and the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Honourable Tajudeen Abbas attest to the role of the party in such critical issues.
Thursday’s meeting by President Bola Tinubu is not the first time of his encounter with Honourable Abbas after his anointment by the APC leadership. His meeting with the Kaduna State-born member of the House of Representatives in his bid for the post of Speaker of the House was when he was still the president-elect.
Abbas gave a hint about their discussion. He said: “We had a very engaging discussion with him. At the end of the day, I can tell you he was very happy with my candidature. He prayed for me and also told me that he would do everything possible to ensure that if it is North-West that this particular position is zoned to, he would ensure that justice and fairness are done to all the contestants.
“I want to believe, first and foremost, that he is impressed with my legislative contributions. I have told him I’ve been in the National Assembly since 2011, and I’ve been there now for almost 12 years back-to-back, and I’ve contributed in sponsoring a lot of bills.
“In the 8th Assembly, I sponsored 43 bills, which gave me the number 1 ranking in terms of those who sponsored bills. And in the 9th Assembly, I had the singular honour of sponsoring 74 bills, out of which 21 were assented to by Mr President, and they’re now laws in the country.”
Tinubu’s body language
The second meeting held about three days after Tinubu assumed office as president was believed to be the icing on the cake for the lawmaker. Though some aspirants for the position of senate president are still disenchanted with the blessings of Akpabio by the APC organ, top officials of the party believed that the situation could easily be managed as the power centres in APC had resolved on the choice.
According to one of the officials, the choice is a done deal because of the success of the current efforts at different fronts to cement all cracks and present a common front. With days to the inauguration of the National assembly, there seems to be fewer cacophonies over the race for speakership. Most of the camps appear to have slowed down in taking their battle to the front pages of the newspapers but to behind-the-scene scheming on their demand as the process of consultation, negotiation and compromise progressed.
This is aid to be due to what sources in both the APC and the camps of the aggrieved aspirants following the body language of President Tinubu. He is said to have deployed strategies designed to calm frayed nerves through tact and diplomacy. Both APC leadership and the president remained sync in the Abbas/Benjamin Kalu ticket. Efforts being made by the camp of Abbas on rapprochement and reconciliation were also said to have contributed in resolving contentious issues arising from the zoning formula adopted by APC.
In the reconciliation moves, Abbas was quoted to have assured members-elect that he would live above board and carry everybody along as speaker. He also promised to lead the House based on the ideals and principle of separation of power and collaboration and inclusiveness to deliver the real gains and benefits of good governance and leadership across the board.
Besides, Abass who represents Zaria federal constituency of Kaduna State, North-West zone, promised to remain a team player and bridge builder, while strengthening the bond of national unity. According to him, one of the factors that oil and buoy democracy is collaboration without compromising the ideals.
Peace moves
Sources privy to ongoing horse-trading over the speakership race said loyalists, supporters and symapathisers of Abass stepped up lobby across the six geopolitical zones and across party divides. Both Abbas and Honourable Benjamin Kalu, who is the anointed candidate of APC for the office of deputy speaker, were also said to have visited governors most of the states, as well as immediate past governors to seek their support.
For instance, some of the states they visited included Benue, Jigawa, Osun, Cross River, Lagos, Gombe and Bauchi states, to hold discussions with power brokers. A collation of members-elect under the auspices of The Joint Task – 10th Assembly, has bought into the zoning plan of APC leadership. In his reaction to the development, Abbas said: “I feel elated; I feel inspired because I believe that if the party is going to use competence as its yardstick, I’m the right person to actually be picked. So for the fact that they did what I expected them to do, I feel very elated; I feel very satisfied.”
On reconciliation, he stated: “We are in the process (of reconciling with aggrieved aspirants). We have reached out to so many (of them), and we will continue reaching out to all of them. Before the end of next week, I assure you – all the candidates and all the contestants – we will beg them. We will ask them to come on board so that we can work for the good of the institution.” During his meeting with Tinubu on Thursday in Abuja, Abbas expatiated on the fallout of the reconciliation efforts so far made by him and others.
Describing himself as a peacemaker and team player, he said they had been doing everything possible to carry everybody along. He was confident that come June 13 when the House would be inaugurated, all the lawmakers would speak with one voice and move ahead to operate as one family.
To the Minority Leader of the House from 1999 to 2003, Dr Wunmi Bewaji, the choice of speaker is a done deal based on tradition, urging the opposition camp to concentrate on what has always been its preserve in the power equation in the House.
According to other observes, for the Tinubu administration to make a remarkable difference, there has to be a focused National Assembly leadership that is ready to discharge its statutory functions diligently and faithfully.
According to them, while consolidating on the gains of the current leadership, the incoming principal officers must bring to bear on the system new ideas to the table.
For immediate past Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State , the APC choice as candidate for speaker and deputy speaker has his backing and he is ready to all that is necessary to succeed. He said since Abbas and Kalu are the preferred choices of the ruling APC and Tinubu, supporting their emergence as speaker and deputy speaker would be in the overall interest of the country, noting: “You saw what happened in 2015, when those who emerged as the leaders of the National Assembly were not working in tandem with the president. That caused a lot of crises. Nigerians are suffering.
“For the interest of Nigeria, let’s allow the people that the leadership of the ruling party and the President-elect have chosen, so that there will be no excuses that you gave us people who don’t want to support our policies.” Wike assured the Joint Task Force-10th Assembly Committee that he would galvanise support for Abbas and Kalu. “Just go home and sleep. I’m not the kind that will support you at the back. I will be in the forefront; by the time I leave office on Monday we will start the work fully,” he promised.
Wike’s position confirmed information about the aggressive drive and efforts by key stakeholders, including governors across party lines to support Abbas. It was reliably gathered that Abbas and his team were in Osun State on Wednesday to lobby Governor Ademola Adeleke to widen and bolster the support base of the team. With June 13 just by the corner, the battle for the successor of Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila and the frenetic moves by the power centres in the ruling APC might soon fizzle out.
Capacity, experience and competence
In his post-election speech to the country, President Tinubu had listed competence, integrity and capacity as part of the criteria his administration plans to entrench and institutionalise. These issues formed a major plank in the ongoing campaign for the office presiding officers in the Senate and the House. And the camp of Abbas strongly attest that he has the enviable record of sponsoring the most bills in the outgoing ninth Assembly with about 78 bills to his name, out of which 21 of them received the assent of the immediate President Muhammadu Buhari.
Abbas a former primary school teacher and head of accounting in polytechnics and at Kaduna State University, believes has the capacity and experience to pilot the affairs of the House, and emphasized this during his consultation wuith Tinubu.
He said: “I told him my private sector experience; that I was a marketing manager with the Nigerian Tobacco Company, which is now British American Tobacco. I told him about my journey there up to the time when I became the general manager of a subsidiary company before I resigned and went back to the classroom in 2001.
“He is impressed with my credentials, the places that I have worked, particularly in the public and private sectors, and also my modest contributions to the National Assembly. I’m sure whatever makes him say he is happy with me is probably because of those experiences, the qualifications that I have.”
He is the House Committee Chairman for Land Transport. His current bid is said to have been endorsed by several professional bodies, groups and a large majority of the re-elected and new members of the House. He is also said to be the only federal lawmaker from the North-West region who has thus far sponsored unprecedented 74 bills and has served in various committees of the House, including the National Planning and Economic Development, Public Procurement, Defence, Social Duties, Finance and Commerce, as well as served as the Vice Chairman of the Legislative Compliance Committee between May 2011 and May 2015. Part of his legislative experiences include deputy Chairman, House Committee on Legislative Compliance 2011 – 2015; Chairman , House Committee on Solid Mineral 2017 – 2019; Chairman House Committee on Land Transport 2019 to Date; Treasurer, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (African Chapter) 2019 to Date; Governing Council member Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies 2019 to Date; (NILDS) representing North West Geo Political Zone.; Chaired House of Representatives Adhoc Committees four times between 2015 – 2022; Sponsored the 3rd Highest Number of Bills in the 8th Assembly (43 Bills and 13 motions) 2015 – 2019; Sponsored the Highest number of Bills in the 9th Assembly (78 Bills and 7 Motions) with 20 of the Bills being assented by Mr President 2019 – 2022; APC Caucus Leader, Kaduna State House of Representative 2019 to Date; Caucus Leader, Kaduna State, House of Representatives 2019 to Date and chaired the Sub Committee on Constitutional Review Conference for North Central Geo Political 2021 Zone. Abbas holds a Doctorate degree in Business Management from the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, awarded in 2010. He obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University; Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the same institution in 1988. Before then, he obtained a Diploma in Accounting from ABU in 1984 after attending Kaduna Teacher’s College (KTC) Kaduna where he obtained a grade II certificate in 1981, as well as passed his West African School Certificate Examination at the Government Secondary School, Makarfi in 1978 and obtained his First School Leaving Certificate at the LEA Primary School, Lemu, Zaria in 1976. He worked as a primary school teacher from 1981 to 1988 with the Education Department of Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State. He afterwards worked with Trust Acceptance Limited as an Investment Officer from 1988 to 1989 and worked at the Bursary Department of Kaduna State Polytechnic as Accountant II in 1989.
Tajudeen picked up interest in the academics when he took up employment as Lecturer II and equally doubled as the pioneer Head of Department of Accounting and Finance Department of Kaduna State Polytechnic Zaria from 1989 to 1993. He however left the academic environment to pick up employment with the Nigeria Tobacco Distributions Company Plc, now known as British -American Tobacco as Area Marketing Manager from 1993 to 1998. His cognate experience cut across many areas, among them as the General Manager of Jos Tobacco Distribution Company Limited from 1998 to 2001 and veered into the academics in 2001 when he became the Head of Department and Senior lecturer in the Banking and Finance Department of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria till 2005 before he joined the Kaduna State University, Kaduna in 2005 where he worked at the Accounting Department as Lecturer I and the pioneered Head of Department until year 2010. Today, he has successfully published 13 academic papers in international journals and attended more than 40 national and international seminars and conferences while working as a lecturer. In 2011, he emerged as the member representing Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State on the platform of the then Congress for Progressive Chance (CPC) and went ahead to become the deputy Chairman, House Committee on Legislative Compliance and served in this position until 2015. He was again in 2015 re-elected to represent Zaria Federal Constituency, this time on the All Progressive Congress (APC) platform and served as the Chairman, Committee on Solid Mineral until 2019. His re-election in 2019 resulted in his emergence as the Chairman, House Committee on Land Transport till date. Having paid his due as a lawmaker, he is set to becoming Speaker following his re-election and experience. He has a wide local and international connection which he could leverage on to up the ante in the House leadership in the next dispensation. He is a member and fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILTS) in year 2020. He also became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketers in 2013; Chartered Institute of Administrators in 2016 and decorated as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management and became Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Nigeria in 2015 and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management in 2008.
In between these period, Abbas was the Chairman at Land Transport Committee until May 2023; Committee Member at Commerce Committee (Reps) to May 2015; Committee Member at Finance Committee (Reps) to May 2015; Committee Member at Special Duties Committee (Reps) to May 2015; Committee Member at Defence Committee (Reps) to May 2015; Vice-Chairman at Legislative Compliance Committee (Reps) to May 2015 ; Committee Member at Public Procurement Committee (Reps) to May 2015; Committee Member at National Planning and Economic Development Committee (Reps) to May 2015. On bills sponsorship, Tajudeen seems to be first to none in the 9th House of Representative having sponsored 75 bills within the life of the National Assembly. The bills he sponsored have direct and indirect positive impacts on his constituents and across the nation, Nigeria. The bills are at various stages, while many of them have passed 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reading.
Similarly, former President Buhari had few months ago signed into law 21 Federal Medical Centres across the country, with 18 out of these medical centres sponsored by Abbas. Motions he initiated included Multiple statutory violations by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and need for Legislative Intervention to Foster Fiscal Responsibility; Urgent need to regulate the uncoordinated establishment of Pharmaceutical shops and Medical Clinics in Nigeria; Need to Investigate the Congestion and Double Parking of Trailers at Maraban Jos in Igabi Local Government and Tafa in Kagarko Local Government Areas of Kaduna State along Zaria – Kaduna – Abuja Express way.” Others were Urgent need to initiate Strict measures to address the Menace of Overloading of commercial vehicles on Nigerian Roads; Need to regulate visiting Lecturing by the National Universities Commission (NUC); the need to stop Medical Officers in Public Service of the Federation from Engaging in private Medical Practice for personal gains; The Need for Federal Government to re visit the return of toll gates in our Federal Highways for effective maintenance and enhanced security. Capital projects done by him includes, Zaria Federal Constituency which Tajudeen represents consists of 13 wards and there are projects executed by this lawmaker on each of these wards (2019 to 2023).Construction and Equipping of Primary Health Center Bizara, Dambo Ward, Zaria; Construction and Equipping of Modern ICT Centre Amaru, Kwarbai A Ward, Zaria; Construction of 2Blocks of 6 Class rooms JSS Dallatu, Dutsen Abba ;Ward,Construction of Solar Powered Borehole with 20,000 Litres Steel Overhead Tank at Magume, Tukur Tukur Ward, Zaria and Road Rehabilitation from Anguwan Kaya Junction to FCE Junction, Anguwa Kaya, Gyallesu ward, Zaria among many others. In the opinion of an analyst, Femi Adeniyi, Abbas has the capacity, resourcefulness to bring to bera on House leadership in the next dispensation. According to him, “No doubt, if given the opportunity to serve the house as its next speaker, the well-groomed educationist, administrator par excellence and a political juggernaut with stronghold at the grassroots and a significant national appeal, Honourable Abbas Tajudeen will indeed use his versatile knowledge and experience to excellently pilot the affairs of Nigeria’s next green chamber as speaker.”
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then