Speakership battle: Opposition parties set up 11-man team to scout for candidates

The minority parties in the House of Representatives have set up an 11-man committee to screen the aspirants contesting the speakership of the 10th House.

The members-elect met on Tuesday night at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, where they held a closed-door meeting on the leadership race.

The lawmakers were drawn from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Young Progressive Party (YPP).

The lawmakers, who have formed a coalition known as the “greater majority”, said they have more members-elect than the ruling party.

The PDP has 116 members, NNPP 19, LP 35, APGA 5, ADC 2, SDP 2 and YPP 1. In all, the party has 180 members, while the ruling party has 175 members.

Following the closed-door session, they issued a communique on their decision on the Speakership battle.

“That we have resolved to set up an eleven-man Committee to scout for a credible and acceptable candidate that would vie for those offices, and then actively seek the unification of Nigerians along ethnoreligious lines,” the communique reads in part.

Currently, 11 candidates have declared interest in running for the speaker, all from the ruling APC.

It is unclear if the minority parties will nominate one of them for either the speaker or deputy speaker.