Segun James
The majority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, will today officially declare his intention to run for office of the speaker in the ninth assembly.
Announcement from office said the event would start by 2pm at the Lagos/Osun hall of Transcorp Hilton hotel, Abuja.
The Lagos lawmaker who represents Surulere II federal constituency will be returning to the house for a fifth term.
His office announced Abdulmumin Jibrin, a Kano lawmaker, as the director general of the campaign.
Mr Jibrin is a former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations before he fell out with the house leadership in 2016.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership has yet to announce the zoning for the House of Representatives. But sources said it would do so on Tuesday.
The National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole had declared support for Yobe senator, Ahmed Lawan, to become the next Senate President.
The announcement did not go down well with other APC lawmakers who felt that the party should should give all contenders a level-playing field to contest for the office.
A senator from Borno State, Ali Ndume, has also written to the party signifying his intention to be the Senate president.
Despite the position of the party leadership, Ndume is not backing down on his ambition.
The APC enjoys a clear majority in the incoming House of Representatives, winning over 200 of the 360 seats.
The party is expected to produce the speaker, but as it happened in 2015, a different candidate other than that endorsed by the party leadership may contest the election.
While both Messrs Lawan and Gbajabiamila were endorsed by the party for the positions in 2015, but Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as the Senate President and Speaker of the House respectively.
The two winners later defected from the APC to the PDP.
So far, there are at least 10 members that have indicated interest for the position.
