Gbajabiamila: 178 Reps-elect receive phone gift, others

• Endorse him for speaker

By Christiana Ekpa

178 House of Representatives members-elect from various political parties have resolved to vote for House leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as the next speaker of the lower chamber.
This was even as the newly elected lawmakers received Tecno y7 phones as gift after a meeting that lasted for hours.
Current Speaker of the Akwa-Ibom state House of Assembly and member-elect, Hon. Onofiok Luke (PDP) disclosed this at a press briefing shortly after a meeting held with Gbajabiamila at the New Chelsea Hotel in Abuja.
Luke said all the 178 members-elect who attended the meeting resolved to enthrone a non-sectional leader in the apex legislature by endorsing Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives
He said “This is a conglomeration of people of different parties. I am of the PDP, we have members of APC here, we have members of APGA and we have people from A.A, we have people from SDP and we have people from ADC. It’s a multi-party arrangement.
“We decided to convene ourselves as newly elected members of the National Assembly. We have acknowledged the fact that this country today for the challenges that we have, we need a bi- partisan approach to solve the problem of Nigeria and the only person that show that credibility, that has shown that capacity, that has all it takes even as reflected in his manifesto to carry the entire parties along in resolving and solving the issues of Nigeria.
“The man who will not mortgage the independence of the legislature; but will at the same time not engage the executive in a fiasco; a man who will build a good relationship between the executive and the legislature; between the legislature and the judiciary.
“A man who will care about the welfare of Nigerians, a man who will put the interest of Nigerians above his personal interest and a man who will put the interest of Nigeria above the party”.
Speaking further, Luke disclosed that “We have resolved today, to have come from our different constituencies. We have come as newly elected members having looked through the credentials and the CV we have found in Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila as a man who has the capacity to lead the 9th National Assembly as the Speaker of House of Representatives.
“And we know that he is not going to let Nigerians down and we know and believe that he is not going to let us down and we know and believe that he is not going to let God down”.
Meanwhile, each of the member-elect at the meeting was seen with a Techno Y7 phone allegedly given to them as souvenir by the speakership hopeful.
Asked whether, the phone was an attempt to woo or buy over the members, all the members approached by our correspondent declined to comment on the development.
A member who openned his brown envelop in the presence of our reporter was furious at the envelop even as he angrily said “is it what we were invited and waste our time for?”
Two other Lawmakers who did not want their name in print told our correspondent that they were hungry as they had not eaten since morning.