No fewer than 61 out of the 81 opposition lawmakers have thrown their weight behind Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere (APP, Imo) for the office of Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
The vacancy was announced by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, following the defection of the former occupant, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, to the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) where he emerged as the party’s Rivers state governorship candidate.
LEADERSHIP reports that the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Chinda on Tuesday formally resigned from his position and dumped the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC).
A new minority leader has not been announced while the deputy minority whip, Hon. George Ozodinobi(NDC, Anambra) is the only one left in the minority leadership.
Recall that the deputy minority leader, Hon. Aliyu Sani Madaki (Kano) had earlier resigned from NNPP to APC while minority whip, Hon. Ali Isa left PDP.
Consequently, the documents sighted by our reporter showed that the majority of the lawmakers of the minority parties namely ADC, NDC, APP, PRP, LP, APGA, APM, Accord and SDP, and across tribal, religious and zonal political lines voluntarily settled for Ugochinyere as their preferred choice.
From available information, the lawmakers on Wednesday submitted the official nomination of the new Minority Leader designate, Ugochinyere, to the Speaker in line with the tradition of the parliament.
This is in line with the new Rule Book of the House of Representatives, Order 7, Rule 7, which provides that members shall elect among themselves the Minority Leader to lead them.
Some lawmakers who do not want to be mentioned said the Speaker Abbas as an unbiased leader, will swiftly make the announcement so that the minority can have its leadership in the next few days, and the parliament can be fully constituted with the minority fully represented.
The lawmakers said they have also settled for nominees to fill the vacant positions of Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Leader, with one of the positions already taken by an NDC member from the North West.
“After ongoing harmonisation, the remaining list will be sent to the Speaker within the next few days for announcement,” one of them said pleading anonymity.
The lawmakers said they settled for Ugochinyere because of his excellent legislative record, three years out of his four-year term, during which he sponsored and moved over 40 bills, motions and petitions, in addition to his four years as Senior Adviser to the Senate President, all of which have established him as a qualified candidate for the job.
They said that the power to choose rests with the majority of the minority members, and that power has now been exercised, adding that any sentimental arguments will not change the decision of the minority lawmakers, who have overwhelmingly settled for one of their own.
According to them, in the past, Sen. Godswill Akpabio was elected Senate Minority Leader after only three weeks in parliament, and that many others have been elected to top parliamentary positions with fewer years of experience.
They added that even when the PDP zoned the speakership to the South West for Mulikat, the lawmakers elected Tambuwal and Ihedioha; when the APC zoned the Senate Presidency to the North East, the senators elected Sen. Saraki and Ekweremadu; and Dogara was elected after the position had been tipped for the South West.
Parliament, they stressed, is rooted in the principle of majority decision and not sentiment. The lawmakers said their choice of Ikenga, with three years of legislative experience for a four-year job, is more than enough.
