Tambuwal emerges Speaker, Mark retains seat •Why S/West lost out

Posted by admin House, Latest Politics, Legislature Monday, June 6th, 2011

ONE-TIME Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, has emerged as the new Speaker of the

House of Representatives, as he polled a total votes of 252 to beat his opponent, Honourable Mulikat Adeola-Akande, in an election held in Abuja, on Monday.

Adeola-Akande, widely touted as the favourite of the presidency, polled only 90 votes in the election conducted through open-secret system.

Before the Monday election, some underground moves by the top echelon of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), aimed at committing House members to endorse Adeola-Akande on consensus basis, were stiffly rebuffed by a majority of members who clamoured for the independence of the House.

The PDP had initially settled for Honourable Ajibola Muraina from Oyo State, but reportedly made a U-turn in the last minute by throwing support behind Adeola-Akande, also from Oyo State.

The last minute ditching of Muraina, Nigerian Tribune can report, stemmed from the insistence of the First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, that a woman should occupy the post of the Speaker of the House as a means of promoting the promise of 35 per cent affirmative action in favour of women by President Jonathan.

The decision by the presidency to support Adeola-Akande was, however, greeted with opposition as members rallied forces to frustrate the plan to make her emerge as consensus candidate.

As of midnight of the previous day, many members of the House who met across party lines resolved to back Tambuwal.

Members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as well as those from the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) had resolved to give Tambuwal a block vote and went ahead to work against the candidate of the PDP.

The House Chief Whip, Emeka Ihedioha, emerged unopposed as the deputy speaker.

Meanwhile, the immediate past Senate president in the sixth Senate, Mr David Mark and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday, retained their positions, following the opening of the seventh Senate.

Mark and Ekweremadu were elected unopposed as the sole candidates for the positions, following their adoption by the caucuses of the six geopolitical zones.

Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, who presided over the election on Monday, entered the chamber accompanied by his deputy, Mr Muyiwa Adejokun; Clerk of the Senate, Mr Ben Efeturi and his deputy, Mr Duduyemi Lawal.

Maikasuwa read the proclamation of the new National Assembly signed by President Goodluck Jonathan on May 30. He then asked the Clerk of the Senate to read the writ of elections of each of the senators-elect in an alphabetical order.

Maikasuwa reminded the new senators that they were to be guided by the rule of the Senate in relation to the ranking of senators.

Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) who moved the motion for Mark’s election said that Mark was a man of many parts who led the sixth Senate in a commendable manner.

He said that in making the nomination, he was compelled to ask whether it is man that makes history or history that makes the man. He said that at the end of the new session, the answer would be very clear.

His nomination was supported by Senator Smart Adeyemi, who stated that Senator Mark ensured stability in the last Senate. He said that Mark was a democrat who allowed leadership to flow from the people.

After Senator Adeyemi’s election, Mark accepted his nomination, thus setting the stage for his unanimous adoption as the new Senate president.

His deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, was also nominated by Senator Zainab Kure and seconded by Senator Ahmed Lawan.

His election was adopted by the Senate, after the clerk had asked three times if there were any more nominations, the question that was negative with big shouts of “No, No No.”

Mark, in his acceptance speech, said he was humbled by the election and confidence reposed in him and his deputy.

“Our legislative agenda is enormous. Indeed, the harvest is plenty but the labourers are few. Our budgeting system needs a radical change. There is a need for collaboration between the executive and National Assembly, to ensure that Nigerians get a budget that can be effectively implemented.

“Nigerians complain that our democracy is too expensive. We, as representatives of the people, must initiate legislations that will reduce cost of governance at all levels, thereby freeing resources to attend to the basic needs of the people.

“Over the next few weeks, we need to identify and prioritise key areas where legislations would be required for the rapid transformation of the economy and polity. We would also seek to strengthen the analytical capacity of the National Assembly as it relates to budgeting and oversight functions.

“Our target is that hopefully, this session of the National Assembly shall set a historic record by passing very critical legislations that would propel Nigeria to the 20 most advanced economies,” he said.

Jonathan congratulates NASS leadership
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated the newly-elected leadership and the entire members of the seventh National Assembly, which was inaugurated in Abuja, on Monday.

A statement issued by the presidency in Abuja, on Monday, expressed the belief of President Jonathan that the re-election of Senator Mark as president of the Senate and the election of Tambuwal as speaker of the House of Representatives was an affirmation of their leadership qualities and commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s democratic institutions.

It said Jonathan looked forward to working harmoniously with the re-elected Senate president and his deputy, as well as the newly-elected speaker and his deputy, other principal officers and all members of the seventh National Assembly on the implementation of his agenda for national transformation.

CNPP congratulates Tambuwal
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), on Monday, congratulated the new speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Tam-buwal and the deputy speaker, Honourable Ihe-dioha, over their emergence as leaders of the House.

The group also congratulated members of the House of Representatives for saving the National Assembly from what it described as an outright rubber stamp status.

CNPP, in a message signed by its national publicity secretary, Osita Okechukwu, extolled the supporters of the elected officers for their “uncommon courage, determination and resolve in the face of intimidation and harassment by the nest of anti-democrats in the PDP.”

The group noted that it considered their victory as victory for democracy, victory for the independence of the legislature and victory for upholding the doctrine of separation of powers.

CNPP, in the letter, challenged Tambuwal and his team to “endeavour to pull Nigeria out of the doldrums characterised by mind boggling illegal jumbo allowances in the National Assembly, non-implementation of the budget and conversion of National Assembly into a trade centre.”

Reps shock PDP
The emergence of Honourable Tambuwal as the new speaker of House of Representatives reportedly shocked PDP leadership to the bone marrow.

It was gathered that the party leadership was not comfortable with the action of its members in the House of Representatives, as the South-Western zone, where the position was originally zoned, had completely lost out in the new power sharing formula.

According to a source at the national secretariat of the PDP, the last minute efforts by both the leadership of the party and the presidency to stop the emergence of Honourable Tambuwal were said to have failed.

The source, however, said as a sensitive political party, peopled with experienced and- responsible politicians, its leadership would be consulting with President Jonathan to work out a “reasonable” political arrangements to accommodate the South-West in the new scheme of things.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the national secretariat of the party in Wuse, Abuja, to seek official reaction over the development, none of the members of its National Working Committee (NWC) was on seat, while the GSM numbers of the national publicity secretary of the party, Professor Ahmed Rufai, were switched off.

However, a source closed to the office of its acting national chairman, Dr Haliru Bello Mohammed, told the Nigerian Tribune in confidence that this was not the best time for the party, with the ways its members defied the directive of its leadership on the zoning formula.

I’ll run all-inclusive administration –Tambuwal
Honourable Tambuwal, on Monday, pledged to run an open and all-inclusive administration in the House and also pledged a rancour-free tenure with the executive arm of government.

He said this while giving his acceptance speech, adding that “the challenges before us are daunting, but surmountable.”

Tambuwal said “the legislative institution we represent is unique in several ways and so are the inherent challenges,” adding that “Nigeria, therefore, expects the legislature to rise to the occasion and assume its rightful position as the catalyst of national growth and development.”

He thanked members of the opposition parties, including the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Accord Party, All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), for the support given him.

Atiku congratulates Mark, Tambuwal
A former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has congratulated Senator Mark and Honourable Tambuwal on their elections as president of the Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.

He said the action of the legislators, particularly the way and manner in which they chose their leaders, had given fresh hopes that the entrenchment of democratic values and ethos was still possible in the country.

Commending the peaceful and orderly nature of the process, Atiku said the National Assembly members had, by their enviable conduct, showed themselves as “soldiers of democracy.”

Atiku, in a statement issued by his media office in Abuja, on Monday, said he was particularly encouraged by the pan-Nigerian voting that characterised the elections of the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly.

-Tribunewp_posts

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Posted by admin on Jun 6 2011. Filed under House, Latest Politics, Legislature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry