Wase Ticks all the Boxes for Speakership, By Adamu Bello Mai Bodi
Amongst the plethora of 10th Assembly Member-elects aspiring for the Speakership, Honorable Ahmed Idris Wase stands out as the candidate of merit and vigor. The impeccable features that characterized Hon. Wase and gave credence to his candidacy are unrivaled. In fact, Wase deserves endorsement from any Nigerian who dreams of a democracy-driven National Assembly. His meritorious services during his stay in the lower chamber from 2007 to date have equipped him with the wherewithal needed to lead the Green Chamber.
As a fifth-termer who deputized the House Leader in the 8th Assembly and got elected with an unprecedented 258 votes as Deputy Speaker in this soon-to-be dissolved 9th Assembly, Wase is holding the four aces in this 10th Assembly leadership tussle. Suffice to say, the wisdom behind electing principal officers as House Leaders is to tap into their vast experience in managing the legislative affairs of the country.
Speaking of experience, Honorable Wase can boast one of the richest and most colorful legislative profiles in Nigeria. In addition to the cumulative period of sixteen years that Wase spent in the House of Representatives, he also served as a member of the Federal Government Delegation to the 89th Session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York, United States, in 2016 and as a Governing Council Member of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in 2015.
Honorable Wase’s profile didn’t stop at that. He also worked in the following committees as a member of the House of Representatives: Federal Character, Environment, Emergency and Disaster, Public Account, Area Council, Housing and Habitat, Capital Market, Poverty Alleviation, Petroleum (Upstream), Justice, Public Petitions and Labor, and Youth and Employment Head of Section, among other functions.
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Customarily, political offices in Nigeria are shared based on a zoning formula built on an unwritten gentleman’s agreement to create balance and inclusion in order to make society just and egalitarian. In this respect, therefore, Wase’s Northcentral deserves to be carried along in the scheme of things. When we travel back in time, the imbalance is obvious: from 1999 to date, the slot was held for a record period of 12 years by the Northwest; the Northeast ruled the Green Chamber for a good 10 years; the Southwest had a combined stint of 8 years; the Southeast had the Speakership for 5 years; and the South, for obvious reasons, presided over the lower chamber for only a year; meanwhile, the North Central States have yet to have their fair share.
Given the current configuration, in which the president-elect is from the south-west and the vice president-elect is from the north-east, it is anticipated that the Senate Presidency would be held by the south-south, the Deputy Senate President by the north-west, and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker by the north-central and south-south regions, respectively.
By doing this, fairness and equity will be ensured, and all the zones will feel like they belong during the upcoming government, especially the North Central, which serves the ruling party religiously. The numbers are there for whoever cares to check: the central zone gave Asiwaju Bola Tinubu the third highest number of votes from all regions, polling 1,670,091 of the votes cast, which is clearly higher than the 1,190,458 votes polled in the Northeast, where the vice president-elect hails from.
With the above concatenations, the Honorable Ahmed Idris Wase and the North Central deserve endorsement and support as compensation for their unalloyed loyalty to the APC and the president-elect. Wase is a sure bet for efficient and all-inclusive leadership, and his emergency as Speaker would add credence to the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi
Gidado Bombiyo Residence
K/Kaji Azare.
