The chances of any of the 4 All Progressives Congress, APC, House of Representatives’ members from Oyo State to occupy Nigeria’s number 4 position look dim, and dimmer by the day, OYO INSIGHT has gathered.
While Olusegun Odebunmi has been re-elected for a third consecutive times, Hon. Akeem Adeyemi (Oyo federal constituency), Hon. Olu Akintola (Akinyele/Lagel federal constituency) and Olajide Olatubosun (ATISBO/Saki East/Saki West federal constituency) have been re-elected to represent their various constituencies for a second term in office.
APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, OYO INSIGHT learnt, is said to be leaving no stone unturned in his bid to make his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the deputy senate president.
Tinubu, it was gathered, had the chance to choose between deputy senate president and reps speakership positions for the South West.
Many had expected that majority leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who just got re-elected for a record fifth term, would be considered for the speakership position in the yet-to-be inaugurated 9th Assembly. Remember incumbent Yakubu Dogara defeated Gbajabiamila to become the speaker of the 8th Assembly.
Already, Hon. Olusegun Odebunmi, a former council chairman who has just been re-elected for the third term to represent Ogo-Oluwa/Surulere federal constituency, has shown interest in the speakership position.
This newspaper had reported how Sen. Teslim Folarin, who has just been re-elected for the third term as a senator, has been going about campaigning for Bunvic, as Odebunmi is fondly called.
It was further learnt that Folarin had been instructed to stop the campaign as the party is coming up with zoning arrangement.
Another source however confirmed that Tinubu had settled for his wife as the next deputy senate president long ago.
According to the source, “In the new arrangement, the senate president will come from North Central with the deputy from the South West. The speaker will come from the North East and the deputy from the South South.”
But any form of crack within the ranks of the APC senators and rep members would ensure that the PDP lawmakers have a big say in the process of emergence of the presiding officers.
In 2015, the leadership of the Senate was decided largely by PDP senators who arrived the floor on time ahead of their APC colleagues who had gathered for a party meeting at the time the Assembly was being inaugurated.
But sources in the Senate said that the contenders for the post of Senate President are this time engaging in campaigns across the party in view of the experience of the past.
In the House, the top contenders are House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos), Mohammed Tahir Monguno (Borno), Ahmed Idris Wase (Plateau), Abdulrazak Namdas (Adamawa), Babangida Ibrahim (Katsina), Umar Bago (Niger), and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe), who is a former lawmaker in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
Top among those gunning for Deputy Speaker are Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila (Kano), who is to be paired with Gbajabiamila, Aminu Suleiman (Kano), Abubakar Lado Suleja (Niger), among others.
