Joint Task 10-th Assembly, a group of members-elect across the eight political parties with seats in the incoming 10th House of Representatives, has vowed to deliver Tajudeen Abbas (APC,Kaduna) and Benjamin Kalu (APC,Abia) as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively on June 13 when the new House will be inaugurated.
The eight political parties that won seats the February 25 general elections included; the APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, APGA, SDP, ADC and YPP.
Secretary, Joint Task, Aliyu Sani Madaki (NNPP, Kano) reiterated the resolve of the group while speaking Speaking in Arise TV programme “This Week”in Abuja,
He said members of the group have resolved to give block votes to the APC concensus candidates, Abbas and Kalu to eemerge as Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
He noted that, the G7, a group of aggrieved aspirants posed no threat to the Joint Task-10th Assembly and it’s resolve saying that, the G7 would soon deplete and fade away.
He said, “By the time we finish this interview, they could become G2 or G1, these are all people I know who are my friends and who are qualified to be speaker but, we have one speaker at a time. And the best among all is Hon. Tajudeen Abbas”.
It could be recalled that, the G7 had kicked against and rejected the adoption of Abbas and Kalu as candidates of the ruling APC.
He noted that, the Joint Task-10th Assembly is a multi-party platform that have put aside political affiliation to work together and elect good leaders for the 10th House of Representatives.
He said: “If you look at it, the Joint Task itself is a kind of gang up. I’m from NNPP, the co-chair (Chinda) is a PDP member, the Chairman is of the APC. A few days back, a greater chunk of the opposition came together and endorsed Abass. I can bet you the 10th assembly intends to work as a group and on that day, we will work as a group and speak as one”.
According to him, the stepping down of the outgoing leader of the 9th Assembly, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Abdulraheem Olawuyi and and Hon. Makki Yalleman has boosted their campaign and broaden the groups reach.
He added,”That’s part of politics and politicking, I believe that’s good for our democracy. We at the Joint Task-10th Assembly Coalition believe that we should have a very robust democracy and rancour free House of Representatives where our main concern, main focus should be the well-being of the Nigerian citizen, and how to do it is to select leaders based on competence, intellect, capacity. We believe if that’s done irrespective of party, we will have an assembly that Nigerians will be proud of.
“As at now, it’s not about having a working relationship between the APC and the NNPP. It’s about having a National Assembly that will work for Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion or whatever differences we have in this country.
The lawmaker added that they had the blessings of the NNPP leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to support Abbas.
“If we don’t have his blessings, you won’t see myself and other members being in the Joint Task.
“For this country to move forward, we have to do away with all these sentiments and pick the best from among ourselves. The Joint Task wants to do what’s obtainable everywhere.
“The best practices in democracies is that the party with majority of members in that assembly is allowed to pick who will be the presiding officers.
“But in allowing the party, we at the joint task decided to have certain criteria, and those are what’s your level of intellect, your contribution to the House. Abass Tajudeen, if you look at his resume, you will see he has brought over 71 bills, and 21 of them has been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“That’s not a small feat. I have been in the parliament for eight years, I have only one bill to my name, although in the eighth assembly I have the highest number of motions”.
The secretary of the Joint Task however dismissed disagreed with those who said that, Abbas, a lawmaker who sponsored over 71 bills and got 21 of them assented by the President was not known amongst his contemporaries.
Madaki said, Abbas has the credibility, intellectuality, comportment and competence to lead the 10th House of Repsentatives.
