The Chairman, House Committee on Land Transport, representing Zaria Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, Tajudeen Abass, has reportedly emerged the favourite for the speakership of the House in the 10th assembly.
This is according to a survey conducted by a parliamentary research-based organisation, Legislative Trends Assessors.
The organization, in a report signed by its Director, Communication, Research and Strategy, Abubakar Tijani, on Sunday, stated that survey conducted among members-elect gave Abass a clear lead.
According to the Sun, the survey noted that a total of 292 members-elect were interviewed out of which 188 voted in favour of Abass, while the remaining 104 respondents were split among 10 other contenders for the speakership seat.
The report read, “The Legislative Trends Assessors is a strategic research based organisation with a bias for parliamentary activities. We have been operating since 2007 and our polls have been very reliable.
“In this research, which was carried out between March 25 and April 25, 2023, we were able to reach out to 292 members-elect for the 10th House of Representatives and all of them volunteered information.
“At the end of the survey, 188 members-elect voted for Hon. Tajudeen Abass, representing Zaria federal constituency of Kaduna state while Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gadgi representing Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke federal constituency of Plateau state came second with 40 votes representing 13.6 percent and Hon. Muktar Betara representing Biu/Bayo/Shani and Kwaya Kusar federal constituency of Borno state scored 26 votes representing 8.9 percent.
“We carried out the research on eleven candidates who have either declared or signified their intention to contest for the position of speaker in the next assembly.
“We asked a total of 12 questions revolving around zoning, competence, character and popularity and at the end of the survey, after analyzing the data collected, Hon. Tajudeen Abass emerged as the preferred candidate.
“Majority of the respondents, who are members-elect voted in favour of zoning, character and competence. Many of them preferred the North West to produce the speaker while some voted in favour of the North Central.
“The second and final opinion poll on the election of speaker and other presiding officers in the National Assembly will be carried out as soon as the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima are sworn in on May 29.
“We want to carry out the second survey because this is a political poll and with politics nothing is static. It is a very dynamic and flexible exercise and things change fast. We believe that when the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) unveils its zoning formula, they may be some changes because some candidates will withdraw and new alliances will be formed”.