Femi Gbajabiamila

The member representing Isuikwato/Umunneochi Constituency of Abia State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha has asked the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to step down for her in the race for speakership.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Onyejeocha appealed to Gbajabiamila to make due sacrifice by giving up on his ambition to become Speaker in order for Nigeria to move forward.

The 49-year-old Onyejeocha urged the leadership of the party to have a rethink by zoning the speakership to the South-East and including a woman from the two geo-political zones which were sidelined in 2015.

The fourth-term lawmaker said while she respects the party’s decision on who becomes the Speaker in the 9th National Assembly, Gbajabiamila should as a leader ‘pay the sacrifice’ for Nigeria to get to the next level.

“I respect my party chairman and what the party has said it intends to do but I am appealing to them, it is not yet late to withdraw their decision and include a woman from the two geo-political zones left out in 2015,” she said.

Onyejeocha and Gbajabiamila are both members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is expected to produce the next crop of National Assembly leaders having emerged the majority party in the two chambers.

Gbajabiamila has however been endorsed by the leadership of the ruling party for the position of Speaker.