Frontline contender for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th National Assembly, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has assured that he will clinch the position effortlessly this time around, describing others vying for the position as non-starters who are only seeking to be noticed so as to be considered for other top positions in the House.
Gbajabiamila while discussing with some newly elected House of Representatives members in Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja a few days ago, was said to have boasted that being a fifth timer, it will amount to an insult for him to go into contest with anyone, insisting that “by right, he should emerge Speaker unopposed.”
The incumbent Reps Majority Leader, who is representing Surulere I Lagos Federal Constituency, told the Reps members-elect that the 2015 mistake will never be allowed to repeat itself and that he was already a Speaker waiting to assume office.
“It was in this same Transcorp Hilton that I told one of the House Leaders in 2015 that he won’t get anything in the House unless he aligned with me. Then, I was so sure, having been endorsed by our party. But along the line, things went wrong and here we are today.
“Therefore, I won’t allow the mistakes of 2015 to be repeated and those masterminds of that 2015 plot will be placed where they belong this time around.
“Those of you who are just coming in deserve to be properly educated as to the why I, Femi Gbajabiamila, a fifth timer is more qualified than anyone else in the coming House of Representatives to be the Speaker. You should be mindful of the fact that even standing for election against anyone is an insult because I stand taller than everyone, both returning and new members of the House, considering my experience, personality and pedigree,” one of the Reps members-elect, who preferred anonymity quoted Gbajabiamila to have said.
Speaking on his adoption by All Progressives Congress, APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Gbajabiamila was quoted to have said that; “having served Asiwaju diligently for years, he does not have any option than to support me and the zoning was done more or less because of me.” (247ureporters)