The Speakership position of the 10th National Assembly has taken a new turn as aspirants are now seeking to form a consensus candidate to tackle Tajudeen Abbas.
Recall that aggrieved lawmakers — Muktar Betara, Idris Wase, Aminu Jaji, Alhassan Doguwa, and Sada Soli — allied in a bid to battle Abbas, the candidate endorsed by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Confirming the move to produce a consensus candidate among themselves, Betara on Friday said, “We can pick the candidate from among ourselves, but we’ll all sit down and decide on it. I assure all of you it is only one person that God would choose to be Speaker.
“I assure you we are not going to have any issues. We are going to agree to support one of us as the Speaker.”
Also, it was earlier reported that Abbas and the Joint Task had visited the vice president-elect to intervene in the battle.
In the meeting which took place in Abuja, Abbas affirmed that conversations with Wase, Betara, Onuoha and others are ongoing.
“I will take it upon myself to reach out to the other contenders. Rt Hon Betara is my brother. We are from the same subregion, we are from the same state and I have the best relationship with him. I met him two nights ago, I will sustain that.
“Around 1 pm today I met with Rt. Hon Wase, the deputy speaker. We will continue with the engagements so we can have a rancour-free Assembly,” he said.
The Punch has also learned that Shettima and Abdullahi Adamu are under massive pressure to stop the rebellion in the House.
Both Shettima and Betara hail from Borno State, however, Shettima has kept mum on the Speakership race. Some leaders of the party have turned to him to address the issue.
Aside from being from Borno State, Shettima is also currently a member of the National Assembly, representing Borno Central.
Many within the party believe that Betara holds the ace in the race, and his withdrawal will weaken the opposition.
It was also learned that the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and the Deputy Chairman, Suleiman Kyari, are also under pressure to intervene.
Adamu is from North-Central, the same region as Wase and Gagdi, while Kyari is from Borno State.
However, with the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, currently on a trip outside there is a vacuum once again, and the decision on the race appears to be facing uncertainty until his return.
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