By Femi Ogunshola
Rep. Abubakar Nalaraba (APC-Nasarawa) has thrown his weight behind the aspiration of Rep. Aliyu Betara (APC-Borno) to become the speaker of the 10th National Assembly.
Nalaraba said this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Thursday against the backdrop of the consensus candidate of the APC for Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
He said that the 10th National Assembly needed a leader that would stabilise the House with deep knowledge of the workings of the green chamber.
He said Betara, a fifth term lawmaker, fits the requirements, adding that he helped the current Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila to stabilise the house.
According to him, this is the first time the Speaker of the House will govern without any threat of impeachment, this is courtesy of Betara.
He said that Betara out of his desire to make the House peaceful, co-opted 100 additional members to his 38-member Committee on Appropriation.
He pointed out that this alone demonstrated good sign of leadership, adding that this made everybody to be committed to the leadership of the house.
“Some members who were not in any Committees were co-opted to the Appropriation committee and they all got some project inclusion in the appropriation to their constituencies and they were happy with him,” he said.
He described Betara as a man of the people with a listening ear, gentle and kind, adding that the single act of Betara in the 9th assembly brought relative peace.
“You can’t pinpoint a single member that has grudges with Betara, even his enemies knows that he is a good man and we need such to be the speaker of the 10th Assembly.”
He condemned the endorsement of Rep. Tajudeen Abbas and Rep. Benjamin Kalu as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the 10th Assembly by the APC.
He said the endorsement was done without consulting other aspirants and without taking into cognisance the politics of national assembly.
“You cannot throw up a candidate at the detriment of other candidates, the APC told the aspirants during our retreat at the villa to continue their consultations.
“And while this was going on the party said a particular candidate has been chosen as consensus,” he said.
He said their preferred candidate was unknown and had never integrated smoothly with members, while urging the party to review its decision and allow members-elect to choose freely.(NAN)
