Gbajabiamila targets chief of staff in Tinubu administration

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila re-elected to represent Surulere 1 federal constituency of Lagos State for the 6th consecutive time at February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections may eventually not represent his constituency in the 10th National Assembly. He is likely to be considered for the position of Chief of Staff (CoS) to the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the incoming new government.

LEADERSHIP reports that the Speaker, being one of Tinubu’s core loyalists and proteges and having worked with politicians from every federal constituency in Nigeria in the last 20 years, is more likely to be considered for the plum job.

When asked if Gbajabiamila will abandon his fresh mandate for the Chief of Staff appointment in Tinubu government, the source said, “That is what we are hearing. If you notice, he didn’t come for his certificate of return on Wednesday. The truth is that he doesn’t need that certificate. He has everything to function optimally as Chief of Staff to the President in the new government. He has worked with politicians in every federal constituency and across political divides in the last 20 years.”

Gbajabiamila polled 19,717 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Bosun Jeje of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 5,121 votes, in the February 25, 2023 election.

But he was conspicuously absent at the International Conference Centre (ICC) Abuja venue of the presentation of Certificates of Return to Members-elect of the House of Representatives, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday.

Gbajabiamila was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2003. In his 20-year journey in the House of Representatives so far, he has served as Minority Whip, Minority Leader, Opposition Leader, and Majority Leader before getting elected as Speaker in 2019.