10th Assembly: No more monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ Doguwa should be Speaker By Remi Omowaiye

As the 10th assembly begins this June, the question of who becomes Speaker in the Green Chamber is now gathering momentum, as many legislators who fancy their chances of directing affairs of the legislative house are reportedly lobbying and consulting with Who-is-Who in the party. Of the lot, there is one man who, ordinarily, should not need much lobbying to clinch the exalted position, given his legislative track record, loyalty to the president-elect and participation in the campaign that led to Jagaban’s emergence. The person in question is Hon. Alhassan Ado Garba, popularly known as Alhassan Doguwa, member representing Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State.

Ado Doguwa, who holds a First Class Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication of Bayero University Kano, has become a household name having come a long way, since his SDP days, when, at the age of 26, he was elected to represent the people of Kano State in the House of Representatives of the botched Republic.

Among legislators jostling for the position of speaker, Doguwa stands taller than anyone in terms of his understanding of the legislative work. Since 2007, he has served in primed house committees, including as Deputy Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Chairman, House Committee on Millennium Development Goals.

When he returned to the lower chamber for the fourth term in 2015, his outstanding contribution to the business of law-making counted for him as he was overwhelmingly elected as the 8th Assembly’s Chief Whip, before he was elevated to play a much bigger role of the Majority Leader, in the current house. His responsibility as Majority Leader is enormous as he is the link between the executive and the legislature. The position has afforded him the leverage to interface with the top echelon in government, especially with President Muhammadu Buhari. Since assuming the role, he has discharged his duty creditably to the admiration of his colleagues, party leadership and the presidency. It follows, therefore, that a man with this robust achievement and pedigree is elected to head the house to further give the needed quality leadership in the people’s parliament.

Again, at a time many were afraid to lose their political capital in the presidency, when the body language of whom the touted cabal in Aso Villa anointed as Buhari’s successor was still wrapped in secrecy, the Kano-born orator crisscrossed the length and breadth of the country to preach the gospel of Tinubu’s Emilokan, he chested out fully for Asiwaju

Even when the peculiarity of the last election in Kano made it burdensome for APC to have an easy ride, Doguwa and other APC frontliners surmounted the difficulties to record the second highest votes for the party, leading the PDP with close to 380,000 vote margin. Doguwa did not only deliver his local government to Tinubu, he as well won the two house of assembly seats in his federal constituency for the party. His Northwest geopolitical zone also returned the highest votes in the election to our party.

So if there is anyone that should benefit handsomely supported to be NASS Speaker based on contribution to the electoral victory and capacity to deliver good governance, it is Doguwa. He invested everything to ensure our party triumphed at the poll. And it is only fair, for the sake of justice and equity, he and Kano State, nay Northwest geopolitical zone, are given a sense of belonging and allowed to ‘eat the fruit of their labour.’ The North West deserves the number 4 position.

Our party should improve on our reward system by empowering only members who participated actively in our electoral successes and also have potentials to implement our manifesto to flip votes in future elections. We must frown at the culture of ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ with the presidency of Asiwaju, a man noted for his thoroughness in dispensing political patronage.

The voice of reasoning and equity should prevail in the leadership selection in the national assembly, so hardworking aspirants like Doguwa and Senator Godswill Akpabio, who led the party to two remarkable presidential outings in 2019 and 2023 in Akwa Ibom State (where we polled 175,429 and 160,620 votes respectively) can harvest the fruit of their diligence, commitment and loyalty to the party.

•Omowaiye, an engineer and ex-Commissioner for Works and Transport in Osun State, served as Spokesperson for Tinubu/Shettima APC Presidential Campaign Council in the state.