10th NASS Leadership Tussle: Wase, Jaji Shun Meeting With Tinubu

The outgoing Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and aspirant for the office of Speaker in the next 10th House, Ahmed Idris Wase, as well as another contender for the coveted seat, Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji, were conspicuously absent at a meeting summoned by President Bola Tinubu with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Members-elect on Wednesday night.

A credible source at the meeting, who disclosed this to LEADERSHIP, said Tinubu convoked the parley Wednesday night to prevail on APC lawmakers-elect to support preferred candidates of the party as presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly slated for inauguration on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

LEADERSHIP reports that APC had endorsed Senators Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin for Senate President and Deputy in the next Senate while it settled for Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and Hon. Benjamin Kalu for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the next session of House of Representatives.

According to the source, the meeting was attended by the other Speakership aspirants, including; Muktar Aliyu Betara from Borno State, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi from Plateau State, Miriam Onuoha from Imo State, and Sada Soli Jibia from Katsina State.

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“However, the outgoing Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase from Plateau, and Aminu Sani Jaji from Zamfara were conspicuously absent, despite getting invitations for the meeting,” the source added.

This is just as Wase had during the House valedictory session earlier on Wednesday, said he would go ahead to contest for the Speaker’s seat because it has been prophesied that he would become Speaker someday.

Wase stated this after the outgoing House Leader, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano) pleaded with other Speakership aspirants to step down for the APC concensus candidate, Abbas.

But Deputy Speaker, who spoke immediately after Doguwa, said as a democrat, who believed in fair contest, he was determined to continue with the race until the end.

“I want to appreciate my political leaders, among whom I would say is Solomon Lar, who, when I was contesting in 2007, I went to him and he prophesied the number of times I will come to this Assembly and I will tell this crowd and to the world that he said, I will come to the Assembly in the number of times and prophesied even the number of leadership (positions) that I will attain and the Deputy Speakership and he prophesied next when I return, and I believe I will be Speaker and I believe I, Insha Allah, I will be the Speaker of the Green Chamber,” Wase had told his colleagues at the valedictory session of the 9th House.

Meanwhile, LEADERSHIP’s attempt to find out from Rt. Hon. Wase why he was absent at the Wednesday night meeting with President Tinubu proved abortive because when our Correspondent put a call through to his Chief Press Secretary, Umar Muhammad Puma, the latter feigned ignorance of his principal’s absence at the critical meeting.

Puma, however, promised to find out from his boss and get back to LEADERSHIP but hours later he had not done so as at press time.