10th Assembly: G7, Opposition Members-Elect To Unveil Consensus Candidates

The Greater Minority Group of the 10th Assembly comprising members-elect from opposition parties on Saturday met with members of the G7 group to reach a consensus deal on the leadership positions of the 10th House of Representatives.

Greater Minority is made up of 182 members-elect across minority parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Labour Party (LP); New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP); Africa Democratic Congress (ADC); Young People’s Party (YPP); All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The G7 is a group of aggrieved Speakership aspirants who have rejected the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s anointed candidates for Speaker and deputy speaker.

They are the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase; Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi; Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Muktar Aliyu Betara; Sada Soli; Miriam Onuoha and Sani Jaji.

At the end of the meeting which was held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Saturday, the incoming lawmakers agreed on having consensus candidates for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker positions.

They, however, decided to wait for a later date to unveil the preferred candidates.

Speaking on the development, a member of the G7, Gagdi, said the members-elect settled for candidates that will be acceptable to the majority of them.

“The G7 met with Greater Minority and agreed on consensus candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker but we will not mention the names yet. We reached an agreement based on the best choice of people that will be acceptable to the majority of all parties involved.

“We have formed this alliance to resist all attempts by external forces to impose leadership on the 10th House of Representatives. Be rest assured that the next leadership of the House will emerge from us,” he said.