By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja 

The group of seven Contestants (G7), for the Speakership seat of the 10th House of Representatives has indicated that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC ), was acting the script solely prepared and funded by incumbent Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, to foist Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu as Speaker and Deputy, on other elected members.

A member of the G7 and key contender for the seat, Rt Hon Ysuf Adamu Gagdi, disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, on Tuesday, absolving the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of any complicity in the said conspiracy.

This was just as Gagdi expressed displeasure over the way and manner Gbajabiamila was going about the issue in a way he said was quite deceptive, knowing fully that he allegedly stabbed in the back, his loyal Allies, who are all members of the G7.

Gagdi told journalists that he found it hard to believe that Gbajabiamila could jolt members of the G7 to Settle for someone like Tajudeen Abbas, after all that they have done for him and their long-standing loyalty to him and the party.

He said this explained why Gbajabiamila allegedly denied sponsoring the Joint Task, which his helmsmen told journalists during it’s inauguration that the body was not being bankrolled by the Speaker.

It could be recalled that Joint Task in nation building first started in 2019, on which platform the interest of Gbajabiamila to be Speaker was pushed and achieved.

The system gave rise to a rebellion by certain members of the opposition People’s Democratic party (PDP), against the party’s choices of minority principal officers, as Femi Gbajabiamila rejected outrightly on the floor of the House the list forwarded to him, paving way for Ndudi Elumelu, Tobby Okechukwu and others, who were members of his Joint Task Team, to emerge as leaders of the opposition, thereby frustrating the party’s choice of Kingsley Chinda.

Other members of the team, like Onofiok Luke, who were first termers, also got recognitions and juicy committees, but Like and a lot of others, including  all these minority principal officers, were unable to secure their seats in the 10th Assembly.

Gagdi said that it was immoral for Gbajabiamila’s men to deny that he was not bankrolling the Joint Task Team, only for Gbajabiamila’s to be be seen steering the activities of the team that was the basic platform the APC NWC was pushing their speakership interest.

He insisted that Gbajabiamila should have played neutrality in the contest and not allegedly asked the APC NWC to employ it’s powers to help him push his candidate against the interests of other party men, without adequate and due consultations.

Gagdi swore that he could stake everything for Tinubu that he was not aware of this script and as such, never endorsed it.

He said Tinubu by his political antecedents and pedigree, will not fall for the arrangements being peddled around, and assured that the protesting group will be willing to meet with the President-elect at as soon as the opportunity presents itself. “I don’t believe that the President-elect is aware, and I don’t believe this is his idea”, he submitted.

The lawmaker also faulted the manner in which the purported zoning arrangement came to the knowledge of other aspirants through media reports,  a development he tagged “an insult to some of us (the aspirants)”, warning that the G-7 should not be taken for granted as it is an alliance seeking for justice,  and will stop at nothing until a reversal is made.

According to him, the North Central geopolitical zone cannot be totally pushed out of the power equation in allocating the six constitutionally backed positions in the national political scene to the advantage of another zone.

“We (the G-7) have not started anything yet, and people are already running to meet governors…The G-7 has come to stay. Zoning is not a covenant that cannot be amended”, he said as he faulted the decision of the APC to narrow down its decision to individuals, without consulting the others who were nterested in the race.

He said the members of the G7 were patiently waiting for the action of Tinubu on this matter, to prove him as a true democrat, who preaches and was a beneficiary of fairness, justice and equity.

Gagdi further said his team was not perturbed by the ongoing activities of the APCNWC and the Joint Task Team, knowing that they don’t have the blessings of well meaning leaders of the party across the country.

The lawmaker vowed that he would not stepp down or stop fighting this decision, being convinced that it was against all principles of fairness, justice and equity.

However, he said there were two conditions that could make him reconsider his stand, if the G7 arrives at a consensus candidate and it didn’t favour him or if the Deputy President of the Senate is zoned to North Central, which is his desire for the geopolitical zone to have a constitutional position in government.