House Speakership: Most Lawmakers Behind My Ambition, Female Aspirant

The female contestant for Speaker of the House of Representatives, Princess Onuoha, a member representing Onuimo/Isiala Mbano/Okigwe Federal Constituency from Imo State, has said she has the backing of 198 members-elect of the green chamber to emerge the next Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 10th National Assembly.

“I have about 198 members whom I have talked to and I have got their ultimate buy-in in my kitty. Politics is not about making noise,” she said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on yesterday.

Onuoha, who won her reelection on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said she delivered for her party’s flag bearer, Bola Tinubu at the February 25 presidential poll though Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) won the state.

The only female aspirant so far for the number four top job in Nigeria also said she is not in the race because she is from the South-East which has clamoured to produce the next leaders of the yet-to-be inaugurated 10th National Assembly.

Onuoha said, “I am not in the race because of the zoning factor. I am here and I have offered myself to serve the Nigerian people and offered them robust and dynamic leadership.

“The South-East has been solidly behind the APC. I have been a solid member of the All Progressives Congress. I put my billboard in the South-East running campaigns alongside a Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I know the backlash I got from the people yet I was able to garner over 44,000 votes for myself and for the presidential election. So, we delivered.

“My federal constituency won. I delivered and I have the evidence. My people voted because they didn’t want to take a chance by voting another party…I have brought participatory governance to my people; politics of inclusivity.

“So, you want to say I will not compete and contest alongside other candidates who might not have delivered? South-East is not the only zone who did not come up as expected. We have the north where the NNPP also made inroads.”

Onuoha argued that she has the requirement to be the next Speaker of the green chamber. According to her, she fought and defeated men in the general elections and she is ready to repeat the feat.

“I have paid my dues,” the APC lawmaker stated, adding that “my people said I have raised the bar of leadership”.

Onuoha promised to improve legislative-executive dialogue with fresh ideas to ensure resolutions don’t become tissue papers.

She vowed to be a record-breaker after Patricia Etteh, the first female Speaker of the House between June and October 2007.

In the February 25 National Assembly poll, the APC secured over 160 of the 360 seats in the green chamber, the highest by any party.

Many APC lawmakers have since indicated interest to emerge the next Speaker of the House. They include Benjamin Kalu, Ahmed Wase, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Yusuf Gagdi, Aliyu Betara, Tajudeen Abbas, Abdulraheem Olawuyi, Sani Jaji, amongst others.

However, the APC has not made its decision on zoning for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly known.