Ninth Assembly: Imo Rep-elect backs Gbajabiamila as speaker

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A member-elect of the House of Representatives from Imo State, Ugonna Ozurigbo, on Friday said he and his colleagues from the South-East would support Mr Femi Gbajabiamila to emerge the Speaker of the 9th National Assembly.


Ozurigbo, who is the current Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, said they would support Gbajabiamila since he was the choice of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress.

He made his position known at a press conference in Owerri, the state capital.

He claimed that apart from the support of lawmakers elected on the platform of the APC, Gbajabiamila also enjoyed the support of lawmakers elected on the platforms of the Peoples Democratic Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Action Alliance and Social Democratic Party.

He further claimed that that 162 new members of the House of Representatives were all supporting Gbajabiamila.

Ozurigbo said, as a founding member of the APC, he could not be seen to be opposing the decision of the party and that of the President on the matter.

He said that both the President and APC had endorsed Gbajabiamila as the next Speaker of the House of representatives.

He said he would not support his colleague from the state, Chike Okafor, who had declared interest in the position of the Speaker.


According to him, the South-East with only two APC House of Representatives members, does not have the numerical strength to produce the Speaker.

Ozurigbo said, “The truth of the matter is that Femi Gbajabiamila will emerge the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“Election is a game of number and the House Leader has most of the lawmakers-elect. The 162 members-elect of the APC extraction have declared support for him. Gbajabiamila only needs about 30 other members to have 181 votes which the House rule stipulates.

“I wish Chike Okafor good luck, but we in the South-East are supporting Femi Gbajabiamila to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“As his coordinator in the South-East,I am reaching out and we are upbeat that members from other political parties will support and vote for him.”