PDP, LP, Other Minority Parties Form Alliance To Produce Reps Speaker

 

It has been revealed that minority caucuses in the House of Representatives have made plans to produce the next Speaker of the House.

 

Premium Times reported that the minority groups have agreed to come together and present a unified front ahead of the inauguration of the 10th session of the House in June.

 

The report stated that lawmakers met on Tuesday at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja. Lawmakers from six minorities parties were in attendance.

 

Several new and returning lawmakers, attended the meeting which started at about 10 p.m.

 

The parties are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP) Youth Progressive Party (YPP), and New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP).

 

The moderator of the meeting, Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau), informed the lawmakers that the combined strength of the opposition is more than the ruling party. He noted that there is a need for unity to achieve a collective interest.

 

He noted that the alliance can produce “an impossible upset” if all the lawmakers are committed to the alliance.

 

Composition of the House

The ruling All Progressives Congress has so far won 162 seats out of the 325 seats declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

 

Meanwhile, the combined strength of the opposition is 163 seats with the PDP having 102 seats. LP and NNPP have 34 and 18 seats respectively, APGA four seats, ADC and SDP two each while YPP has one seat.

 

INEC is set to conduct elections in the remaining constituencies on 15 April.

 

Speaking on the alliance, George Ozodinobi, a lawmaker-elect from Anambra State, said the LP is committed to an alliance as long as the process aligns with its values.

 

Mr Ozodinobi, who spoke on behalf of the LP caucus, said they will back anyone the group decides as long as the person is competent.

 

“I stand here on behalf of the 34 strong elected members of the LP, believing this alliance shall attract evenly benefit to us in this assembly and conform with the LP ideology,” he said.

 

Also speaking on the alliance, Abdulmummin Jibrin, a member-elect on the platform of NNPP from Kano State, assured his colleagues that they can achieve their aim, as long as they are united.

 

Mr Jibrin, a former member of the House, said the alliance will protect the collective interest of the group.

 

Following the remarks by some of the lawmakers, the meeting was declared “closed door”.

 

....The only exception was in 2015 when Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP was elected deputy senate president following some working relationship with some APC senators. Mr Ekweremadu was deputy to Bukola Saraki then of the APC.

 

In the Second Republic, the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) went into alliance with the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) to produce the presiding officers of the Senate and the House because of its narrow majority in both chambers.

 

Consequently, the NPN produced Joseph Wayas as senate president while NPP had John Wash Pam as deputy senate president.

 

It is not clear if such alliance will be replicated in the 10th National Assembly if the APC does not have a clear majority in the House after the 15 April supplementary elections.