The preferred candidate for the speakership of the 10th National Assembly, Hon Tajudeen Abbas, has appealed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) to call other aspirants for a roundtable to seek their support ahead of the June 13, voting day.
He said the party which endorsed him as the preferred candidate should equally ensure that members-elect and other aspirants voted him as the next speaker of the house.
He spoke yesterday in Abuja during a visit to the party’s national secretariat where he was received by the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other NWC members.
Abbas said, “I want to urge you, Mr Chairman, and members of the NWC that you have done one leg of your job; that is the endorsement of the people that will represent the party in the next dispensation.
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“The next is to call all out to support, to encourage, to convince every member who has a vote to come and vote for your candidates come June 13.
“Finally, Mr. Chairman, I also want to urge you as our leader – the leader of all the contestants both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives – we are all your children, and we want to urge you to use the position God has given you and all the members of NWC to do whatever you can to call all our co-contestants to the table.
“We are more than willing to sit down and agree on a mutual basis what we need to do to move the National Assembly forward. We want your leadership to be in the driving seat; we will cooperate, and we will do everything humanly possible to make sure that we operate as one from June 13.”
Adamu urged supporters of Abbas to stop addressing him as speaker pending his official election on June 13, by members of the House of Representatives.
He said, “I want to make one correction so that we will not be misrepresented. Quite a number of you have referred to Hon Abbas as the speaker. Please, he is one of the aspirants. He will become the speaker on the day of the proclamation.
“We have said clearly in our statement that there is a need for further consultations so that we go to the labour room well prepared. We should calm nerves and massage political egos.”
On his part, the Chairman, of Joint Task-10th Assembly, Usman Bello Kumo, said the group was ready for the task to deliver Abbas and Kalu as speaker and deputy when the time for the election came.
By Saawua Terzungwe & Balarabe Alkassim
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