Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Lobby for plum positions in the nineth House of Representatives, which would be inaugurated in June, has begun with the North East caucus jostling for the office of the speaker.

Daily Sun gathered that leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North East are reaching out to the national leadership of the ruling to cede the speakership position to the zone in the interest of equity and fair play.

Chairman, House Committee on Electoral and Political Party Matters, Aisha Dukku told Daily Sun in a telephone interview, yesterday, that the APC should cede the position to the North East because of their massive support for the party during the last presidential election.

“Looking at the votes that came from the area, we deserve to have the speakership,”Dukku stated.

Daily Sun reliably gathered that already, the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chairman, House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services,  Mohammed Tahir Monguno and the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrasak Namdas are positioning for the plum office.

Also interested in leading the House in the next Assembly  are the Deputy House Leader, Ahmed Idris Wase; Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Ibrahim Babangida and Umar Bago.

Gbajabiamila hails from  Lagos State in the South West geopolitical zone while  Mongonu and Namdas are from Borno and Adamawa states in  the North East.

Babangida is from Kastina State in the North West while Wase and Bago hail from Plateau and Niger states respectively, in the North  Central zone.

Although the lawmakers are waiting for the APC, which is the majority party in the Green Chamber, to release the zoning of National Assembly offices, they have started reaching out to returning members and members-elect to market themselves.

It is expected that once the ruling party comes up with the zoning arrangement, the lawmakers will declare publicly for the leadership of the House.

However, spokesman of the APC, Lanre  Isa-Onilu  could not confirm if the party have taken a position on the issue.

He told Daily Sun on telephone that the media or any other person was free to speculate about the zoning of offices.

Monguno who was a member of the Green Chamber in the botched third republic and Gbajabiamila who was first elected in 2003 are the top contenders.

Incidentally, the duo had paired in the contest for the leadership of the House at the inauguration of the 8th Assembly  in 2015.  The arrangement then was that the House leader would serve as speaker while Monguno  would be his deputy.

However, the election of Yakubu Dogara and Yussuff Lasun  as speaker and deputy speaker, respectively,   scuttled the arrangement.