Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila has explained why he is seeking to return to the green chamber, rather than picking up a ticket to go to the Senate.
Gbajabiamila said this while speaking about his future plans in a book recently presented to the public to mark his 60th birthday.
The book titled ‘Mr Speaker: The legislative life, service and resilience of Femi Gbajabiamila’ was written by Dr Charles Omole and Musa Abdullahi Krishi.
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“The Senate was there for me to take without any problem, but I thought it would not be good for the institution — the House of Representatives — to go from being the Speaker — the Number 4 Citizen — to voluntarily by myself go and pick up a Senate seat and sit down on the floor of the Senate as a senator.
“You are sending a wrong, subliminal message, a very wrong message that a sitting senator is higher than, or that it is a promotion from the Speaker to the senator when that is not the case.
“I will not do that to the institution — It is not for me — it is for the institution. I had to protect the institution by not sending a wrong message, that as a senator, you’ re higher than the Speaker.
“Even as a principal officer in the Senate, you are still lower than the Speaker in terms of ranking. There was a lot of clamour, but I just was not interested in that,” Gbajabiamila said.
According to him, “I would rather return to the House and contribute my quota in whatever way, shape or form than go to the Senate and sit down as a sitting senator. I borrowed a leaf from other climes that have democracies. Like Nancy Pelosi when she lost her seat as Speaker, she remained in the House and contributed her quota same as the Speaker before her, so that is the way I like to see it. I know the institution very well: I know the nuances, and I believe in whichever capacity, I can still contribute in my own little way.”
Asked if he foresees himself as a backbencher or a principal officer when he returns to the House, Gbajabiamila said he had never thought about that. He however said “I knew I wanted to remain in the legislative arena and, as you know, if you try to run for speakership several times, that will be the first. I am not even thinking that far at all. Let me just say and do what I think I know how to do best.
“If I did not think I would I want to contribute as a sitting legislator, I would not even come back to the House. I would not fill the form to want to come back to the House, if I thought it would be a problem for me to sit down.
“I think it is almost wrong, sorry to say, to apply to come to the house knowing that you are not going to be sitting on the floor of the House to contribute. I think you are short-changing your constituency and that shouldn’t be the case.”
He also said it may be better for him not to take up any committee assignment as chairman when he returns to the lower chamber.
