By Philip Nyam Abuja
There seems to be a fresh twist in the race for Speakership of the 9th House of Representatives as current Speaker, Yakubu Dogara may have finally joined the contest.
Posters of Dogara emerged yesterday in the social media bearing the inscription “Continuity, Insha Allahu”, “Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara for Speaker 9th House”.
Since after the National Assembly elections in February, Dogara has remained silent as to whether he would seek re-election for the position of the speaker in the next House.
Attempts by his close associates to elicit words from him since the campaigns for the position begun have not yielded any result.
But when the posters emerges yesterday, Sunday Telegraph made efforts to get Dogara to confirm his bid retain his seat as Speaker were fruitless.
All calls made to Dogara’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan were rebuffed, even as he ignored inquiries made through SMS and WhatsApp.
However, a close ally of Dogara told Sunday Telegraph in confidence that the outgoing Speaker had assured them that he would not seek re-election into the position.
The lawmaker reasoned that some people may be flying a kite. “I do not think the speaker would eat his words and the Dogara I know in the last four years is not someone that talks flippantly. When he says something he stands by it.
“Earlier, when some of our colleagues started declaring intention to contest for speaker, some of us went to him and asked him if he were interested; and he told us plainly that he will not contest again,” he said.
Continuing, the lawmaker said: “I am very sure, the posters you saw are not from Dogara. Some people, somewhere are definitely flying a kite. This cannot be true. But, I will advise that we wait and see what will unfold after the Sallah break.”
It will be recalled that Dogara defeated Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in 2015 by a slim margin.
Also speaking to Sunday Telegraph on condition of anonymity, an erstwhile speakership contestant from the North East dismissed the story saying “Dogara is a very smart politician and cannot rubbish his reputation.”
According to the lawmaker: “Dogara is politically savvy and very calculative. Everybody knows that the Senate President is coming from the North East because all the contenders are from that region. He (Dogara) is also from North East, so this is not feasible.
“I know someone is playing on our intelligence because will not want to get himself involved. I can assure you; unless if he is holding meeting with other people that I’m not aware.”
Already, there are six candidates in the race to succeed Dogara. They include Hons. Umar Bago (APC, Niger), Hon. John Dyegh (APC, Benue), Hon. Olajide Olatunbosun (APC, Oyo), Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (APC, Abia), Hon. Emeka Nwajuiba (APC, Imo), Hon. Segun Odebunmi (APC, Oyo) and the APC preferred candidate, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.. https://www.newtelegraphng.com/2019/06/speakers-race-dogaras-posters-flood-social-media/Lalasticlala |
