Femi Gbajabiamila
THE decision to set aside party directives in electing the new principal officers of the House of Representatives on Tuesday must be a big blow for former Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidate, who was narrowly defeated by the new Speaker Yakubu Dogara.
But, something in his demeanour suggests that what happened to the brilliant, hardworking and sound parliamentarian is a temporary setback and that he would bounce back in no time. In spite of the painful and controversial loss, he still congratulated the winner. He took a full page advertisement in a national daily yesterday, where he spoke on the eletion of the Speaker and rededicated himself to the service of his country.
He said, inter alia: “The contest has come and gone and God’s will has been done. I am greatly humbled and deeply touched by the outpouring of love and support from well wishers from across the country and beyond.
“I rededicate myself and I intend to continue to work hard in whatever capacity I may find myself for the progress of my constituency, state and country.”
He appears to be someone who is not motivated by inordinate ambition. Like a true democrat, he has moved on by accepting the emergence of Hon. Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. With this, he has shown that his aspiration to lead the House was purely to serve. For instance, at a point when the APC had the majority membership in the House under the former Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, he did not take the advantage to become Majority Leader, as many observers expected.
No doubt, Gbajabiamila, who was a virile and fearless opposition leader while serving as a House Minority Whip and later Minority Leader, would have made a good Speaker that would champion the APC’s reforms in the House. He has proven to all that he is gifted with leadership qualities. Little wonder, he was appointed to different committees in the House.
A cursory look at Tuesday’s drama at the National assembly suggests that the former Minority Leader was a victim of intrigues and high-wire politics within the ruling party.
Beyond the intrigues that cropped up and changed the course of events, the 53-year-old veteran of many political battles would have carried the day. The fact that he emerged as the consensus candidate of his party at a mock election conducted to avoid the kind of embarrassment that occurred on Tuesday is an indication of his popularity within the fold.
One interesting aspect of Gbajabiamila that played out on the floor of the Green Chambers of the House of Representatives on Tuesday is his discipline and commitment to the ideals of the APC, unlike the new controversial Senate President Bukola Saraki. Even in the heat of the intrigue and confusion that enveloped the House that day, he still displayed the fact that he is a loyal party man.
After Dogara emerged as Speaker, he personally reached out to Gbajabiamila to take the slot of Deputy Speaker. Dogara was said to have held a brief discussion with Gbajabiamila, with an appeal to accept nomination. The consultation took about 30 minutes; that was what delayed the proceedings after Dogara’s election. But, he declined the offer on the grounds that it was not the role that was assigned to him by the party.
Dogara’s camp still pressed on to get Gbajabiamila to change his mind. But when it became clear that the former Minority Leader would not take the offer, his camp asked Hon. Mohammed Monguno (Borno, APC), to accept the nomination. Monguno was, however, defeated by Hon. Suileman Lasun Yusuff (Osun), who had the backing of Dogara’s camp as Monguno is from the same region with the new Speaker.
Gbajabiamila was born on June 25, 1962, to a magistrate father and a pioneering female-politician mother. He followed his mother’s footsteps when he entered politics after returning from the United States. He was first elected to the House in 2003 on the platform of the defunct Action Congress (AC), which later became Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the three major parties that metamorphosed into the APC. He was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and recently during the general elections. He represents the Surulere I Federal Constituency of Lagos State.
He attended the popular Igbobi College in Yaba, Lagos. Afterwards, he proceeded to King William’s College, on the Isle of Man, United Kingdom. He also attended John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois, United States and the University of Lagos (UNILAG), in Lagos, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Law.
Since he entered politics, the 53-year-old lawyer has displayed courage and fearlessness. His major legislative interests are the independence of the legislature and welfare. He has sponsored 29 bills on the floor of the House of Representatives the highest number by any legislator. Among these bills are ‘Nigerian Communications Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2013 to help track the usage of communication terminals by terrorists; Central Bank of Nigeria (Amendment) Bill, 2012 to help strengthen the nation’s monetary policy; Building and Public Infrastructure Protection Bill, 2011 with the objective to enable maintenance of public buildings and infrastructure and many more. He has shown that he has no fear of controversy, having stood against former President Olusegun Obasanjo during the latter’s ‘third term’ bid.
He was the head of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee that investigated claims by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) that N140.9 billion (about one billion dollars), which was owed by Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Forte Oil Plc, had been paid. The call for the investigation of the reported payment was made by another lawmaker, Bimbo Daramola, who moved the motion that the House set up a panel to verify the claims by AMCON that the Femi Otedola-owned two companies had paid back the money which the government of Nigeria paid for petroleum products reportedly not delivered as agreed upon by the dictates of the government’s fuel subsidy scheme. Bimbo Daramola had suspected that the payment, if truly made, was “shrouded in secrecy.”
Over the last 12 years, Gbajabiamila’s legislative focus has covered employee rights, local content in construction, industry, vocational schools, economic stimulus, interest-free students loans and constitutional reform among others.
Besides, Gbajabiamila has shown considerable interest in the campaign to reduce the cost of governance, particularly the reduction of the salary of legislators. The House member, however, questioned the often made comparisons between the United States legislators and their Nigerian counterparts, saying that the demands on the latters’ salaries do not measure with those of the former.
Whenever Gbajabiamila speaks on the floor of parliament, his colleagues always listened. A passionate democrat and a loyal party man, his contributions on the floor of the House have not gone unnoticed. Following the leadership vacuum that was created in January 2010 by the absence of the late President Umar Yar’Adua, who travelled to Saudi Arabia for medical help under doubtful circumstances, Gbajabiamila was the first and only legislator to move a motion on the floor of the House for the invocation of the Doctrine of Necessity that eventually led to the elevation of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Vice-President to Acting President.
In the House, the former Minority Leader held sway because of his stance against mismanagement, poor leadership and political immaturity. He has often criticised fellow politicians for their penchant for defecting from one party to another at the slightest opportunity, saying that there is need for Nigerian politicians to have and hold a set of political beliefs, ideology and philosophy. He suggested that many voters don’t have access to the information to make choices based on every individual stance, and therefore are sometimes only voting for candidates based on their party alignment. He criticised floppers with this in mind, saying the effect “cannot be anything but negative.”
In 2011, following his re-election as the ACN leader and leader of the opposition by his colleagues, Gbajabiamila revived the role of opposition in the House and maintained a tough stance against the PDP, the then ruling party. He was the face of the opposition, not just in the House but the whole National Assembly, including the Senate. On many occasions, he put his life at risk in his many attempts to hold the government of the day accountable. In this capacity, he has also instituted lawsuits against the Federal Government, most recently on appropriation without due approval from the National Assembly and the deployment of the Nigerian military during elections.
In November 2011, Gbajabiamila turned down the national award of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him. His justification was that the abused rewarding system in Nigeria needed to be reformed first. He said the honours list usually contains names of people with questionable character. In a memo addressed to the then President Jonathan, he said he had not done enough to deserve such award.
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