Opposition parties under the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) had on Tuesday rejected the choice of the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the next Speaker.
Gbajabiamila, the preferred candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the position, reportedly enjoys strong backing from President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the CUPP, through its spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, told journalists in Abuja that Gbajabiamila’s choice was contrary to the present administration’s acclaimed anti-corruption war.
Ugochinyere, who spoke alongside national chairmen of 12 political parties, said Gbajabiamila was not competent to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives because he had earlier been convicted of “wilful dishonesty” by the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia in the United States.
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He argued that Gbajabiamila’s choice was “morally, politically and constitutionally wrong.”
According to him, the CUPP, through the Action Peoples Party, had commenced criminal proceedings against the lawmaker before Grade 1 Area Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Karshi.
He explained that the case was instituted because Gbajabiamila had at different times given false information on oath to the Independent National Electoral Commission when he claimed in the commission’s Form CF001 that he had never been indicted by a tribunal, court or administrative panel of fraud or dishonesty.
He said, “A court in the FCT has issued criminal summons on Femi Gbajabiamila to appear in person on June 10 and the court also granted an exparte application to serve him by substituted means through the clerk of the National Assembly.”