Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu, the two APC candidates formally nominated for the top two House of Representatives leadership slots, travelled to Abuja on Tuesday to meet with the party’s national working committee along with about 30 other members-elect.
In three white Coaster buses, the lawmakers—which included JTC members and Femi Gbajabiamila’s supporters—arrived for the meeting behind closed doors at around 2.18 p.m.
Following the zoning arrangement’s announcement on May 8, Abbas and Kalu will meet with the NWC led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu for the first time at Tuesday’s political roundtable.
Senator Godwin Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, and Senator Jibrin Barau, the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, were each given a micro-zoned position by the APC to serve as the Senate’s president and vice president, respectively.
Abass received the Speaker of the House designation, and Kalu, the South-East Representative-elect, won the Deputy Speaker position.
Following a three-and-a-half-hour NWC meeting, the decision was made public a few weeks ago by Felix Morka, the National Publicity Secretary.
The agreement had angered rival candidates and their supporters, with many accusing the party leadership of making the announcement without first consulting them.
The agenda for their meeting had not yet been made public at the time this story was filed.
Sources, however, indicated that the delegation might have arrived to inform the national chairman and the NWC members of the level of progress as part of the ongoing consultation to win over their colleagues and other lawmakers across all boards to their cause.
Later, more information…
