The immediate past Minority Leader in the last session of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has 
secured the endorsement of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the office of the Speaker of the lower legislative chamber.
At the mock in-house election held at the International Conference Centre on Saturday, Gbajabiamila got the backing of majority of the House members from APC, scoring 154 votes to Dogara’s 3 votes.
Out of the 213 APC members in the House of Representatives 183 signed attendance register while 26 later walked out in protest.
As part of strategy to break the apparent dead- lock in choosing a consensus candidate for the both the Speaker and Senate President seats, the leadership of APC moved to organize a shadow primary, which was dominated by mainstream lawmakers.
The majority of those present supported the party’s anointed candidate.
While welcoming the members-elect to the day’s business, the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun, announced that 182 members were present while 27 did not show up.
At the end of the mock election, the National Secretary of APC, Mai Mala Buni who acted as the Returning Officer read out the scores, announcing Femi Gbajabiamila as having emerged the party’s sole candidate for Tuesday’s Speakership election. In the same vein, Gbajabiamila’s partner in the race, Hon. Mongonu was also chosen as the sole candidate for the office of the Deputy Speaker.
