House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday, formally conceded the position of House Leader and Chief Whip of the House to the Femi Gbajabiamila-led group.
Speaker House of Rep, Yakubu Dogara and Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday, July 16, formally conceded the position of House Leader and Chief Whip of the House to the Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila-led group.
In a formal response to the directive of the national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun mandating the speaker to allocate the four principal offices of the party to members of the Gbajabiamila group, Speaker Dogara, however, ruled Gbajabiamila out of contention for any of the four offices.
Speaker Dogara in the letter dated July 16, 2015 insisted that allocation of the four offices must reflect the principle of federal character as had been the practise since 1999.
He said that appointing Gbajabiamilia and Mohammed Moguno as House Leader and Chief Whip as demanded by the party would mean that the Northeast and Southeast would for the first time not be represented in the ruling party’s pack of principal officers.