We shamed those who doubted our victory — Abbas

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, says his victory as the speaker of the 10th House has put to shame those who doubted his chances of winning.

Mr Abbas, while speaking with journalists at the State House on Tuesday, said some people felt he did not have the number because the party imposed him.

He, accompanied by his deputy, Ben Kalu, were at the State House to pay a courtesy call on President Bola Tinubu after their victory on the lower chamber’s floor.

Mr Tinubu had in May endorsed the candidature of Mr Abbas as speaker of the House and Ben Kalu as his deputy.

Several aspirants that opposed him subsequently stepped down following the president’s intervention.

Other aspirants like—Sada Soli and Miriam Onuoha, who did not officially announce their withdrawal from the race, later voted for Mr Abbas.

Mr Abbas, who represents Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, emerged as the speaker of the House with 353 votes, while his opponents, Idriz Wase and Aminu Jaji, polled three votes each in the election 359 members voted. He was voted for by lawmakers across all the political parties in the House.

“People have seen our level of popularity and acceptance by our members, and it has put to shame those who always thought that we were imposed by the party and that we don’t have the numbers,” Mr Abbas said.

He also claimed that some aspirants used social media propaganda to distort the realities of things during the campaign to create the impression that he was unpopular.

“The impact of social media propaganda on some of the contestants distorted the entire picture of what was on the ground. But To God be the glory, today, people have seen our level of popularity and acceptance by our members,” he said.

Speaks on rubber stamp

While responding to questions raised by journalists on the tag of “rubber stamp”, Mr Abbas said the election’s outcome shows that he is not perceived as a rubber stamp kind of speaker by his colleagues across party lines.

READ ALSO: FOR THE RECORD: The acceptance speech of Tajudeen Abbas on his election as Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives

He added that he would, however, collaborate with the executive if there is a need to do so and disagree with it if there is also a need to do that.

In his remarks, the Deputy Speaker, Ben Kalu, said the 10th House would help Mr Tinubu to continue the good steps he has been taking so far.

He promised that the lawmakers would provide legislative support.

“We want to sustain that through legislative support, legislative intervention to make sure that together, we build a nation we will be proud of,” Mr Kalu said.