Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the new speaker of the House of Representative. ‘We voted for Tambuwal because PDP neglected us'
Members of the House of Representatives voted for Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as Speaker on Monday because the PDP did not carry them along on its choice of who to vote for, Godfrey Gaiya said on Tuesday.
"We (members) were not carried along in arriving at the PDP decision; no one sought our input. The party just announced a candidate and issued a directive," Mr Gaiya (PDP, Kaduna) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview in Jos.
The defeat of Mulikat Akande-Adeola (PDP, Oyo) by Mr Tambuwal (PDP, Sokoto) in Monday's contest is seen as a negation of the PDP's zoning formula, which reserves the seat for the South-West. With the development, the North-West geo-political zone now has the Speakership in addition to the vice presidency.
But Mr Gaiya told NAN that the general feeling among members of the House was that the decision of the PDP National Executive Council (NEC) was not binding on members since they had no input in it.
He blamed the situation on the rejection in 2010 of the lawmakers' bid to be part of the party's NEC, adding that most members were also insistent on asserting the independence of the House to reaffirm its autonomy.
"We have discussed with many members and what most of them say is that they will not accept a system that does not give them a say," Mr Gaiya said.
He added that the poor performance of the PDP in the South-West had worked against the zone's chances of producing the Speaker.
"The PDP has only three returning members from the South-West and it was difficult to limit the choice to just three persons," he further said.
He called for greater mutual respect among PDP members, especially those in elective positions, when key decisions were being taken so as to give the faithful a sense of belonging.
Mr Gaiya decried the rejection of many lawmakers at the polls, pointing out that the House had been taken "four years back" with the arrival of new members because such people would have to start from the scratch.
According to him, a freshman requires more than one year to get used to the system. The lawmaker supported the view that only returning members should be allowed to lead the legislature and added that key committees must also be headed by only ranking members, as experience was crucial to parliamentary functions.
"The committee chairman is usually the speaker of that committee and can only be very effective if he has the cognate experience to lead," he added
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