10th NASS: Rt. Hon Tajudeen Abbas as a Speaker.

Abba Dukawa.

Hon Tajudeen Abbas emerged as the 15th and Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 10th National Assembly. He secured a significant victory in the election, pulling 353 votes, surpassing his competitors former Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, and Sani Jaji, who scored 3 votes each. In his speeches after the election said the overwhelming mandate given to him by his colleagues would spur him to work assiduously with every member to achieve a Nigeria that every citizen desires. Saying that House of representatives won’t allow executive take decisions against public interest.

The current administration would have a smooth sail as the President, the Vice, First lady and Chief of Staff to the President, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation were all members of the National Assembly, a development that would make them relate with the Parliament from the point of knowledge. This is the first time we are having this kind of arrangement in our history,” the speaker said, adding that the House would ensure the government succeeds .Abbas were anointed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as its preferred candidates for the positions. Taking lessons from past experiences, the ruling party took every necessary measure to ensure its nominated candidates are elected. When it’s became clear, for those aspiring the seat they sponsoring campaigns of calumny against him claimed going by his name,Tajudeen Abbas. he is a Yoruba man.They blindly forgotten he is a prince from Mallawa dynasty of Zazzau Emirate. Meanwhile, his mother hails from Dutsen Kura in Malumfashi LGA of Katsina state.

His political journey; Abbas joined politics in 2010 where he contested for the House of Representatives seat in 2011 to represent Zaria Federal Constituency in the House Of Representatives for the 7th Assembly and won under the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He triumphed once again in the 2015 elections. Abbas took on multiple roles as a member of various. He was the deputy chairman of the house committee on legislative compliance between 2011 and 2015.

In 2019, he was appointed to chair the committee on land transport. In the same year was appointed as the treasurer of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (African chapter). He represented north-west geo-political zone from 2019 to 2023 as a member of the governing council of the Nigerian Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS). In 2021, he was appointed the chairman of the house of representatives sub-committee on the constitutional review conference for the north-central.

Abbas was born on October 1, 1963, into a ruling family Mallawa dynasty his great-grandfather was an emir in the Zazzau Emirate. He comes from the Mallawa dynasty of the emirate. Meanwhile, his mother hails from Dutsen Kura in Malumfashi LGA of Katsina state. He enrolled at the LEA Primary School, Lemu, Zaria, where he obtained his first school leaving certificate (FSLC). Continuing in his pursuit of knowledge, he went to the Government Secondary School in Makarfi, where he acquired the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) in 1978. He then proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria where he studied accounting and bagged a diploma in 1984.

His academic odyssey continued unabated as he obtained a B.Sc in business administration from Ahmadu Bello University in 1988. also obtained another B.Sc in Business Administration Management from Usman Dan Fodio University. Hon Tajujdeen bagged an M.Sc in business administration from the same institution in 1993. Abbas went further to get a PhD from Usman Dan Fodio University in Sokoto.

Abbas was the pioneer head of the Department of Accounting and Finance, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria. He also pioneered the Department of Business Administration at the same institution. The legislator was the pioneer head of the Department of Accounting at Kaduna State University.When his academic career seemed reached its zenith, the allure of politics beckoned. In 2010, bidding farewell to the halls of academia and made the leap into the murky waters of politics.

Despite the numerous roles he handled, Abbas did not take a back seat in delivering his core constitutional mandate of lawmaking. He sponsored several bills and motions.During 9th lower legislative chamber, he sponsored 74 bills, over 18 received presidential assent. Until recently, many Nigerians were oblivious of his remarkable achievements as Abbas humbly shied away from the limelight.

Former Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila testemonial remarks about Hon Tajujdeen Abbas said

However, breaking his silence after the APC declared Abbas as its preferred choice for the speakership position, Gbajabiamila said he threw his weight behind Abbas, describing him as a man with extraordinary capabilities to guide the parliament.

“So, I decided to support a person that’s least close to me of everybody that is running because I saw in him a man with tremendous capacity,” Gbajabiamila said. “My point is, he quietly makes his impact, very quietly. When I found out that he had drafted and sponsored 74 bills, I said what kind of human being is this? I mean who does that? To draft and sponsor one bill can take a year, can take two years of thorough research. But to do 74, when you are not a bill factory. Not only did you sponsor 74 bills, you actually had 21 of them signed into law.

“I nominated him for the membership of the African Parliamentary Union in 2019. But he got there and made a name for himself. Whenever I attend the conference of the union in Rwanda, Uganda or Cairo or wherever, rather than the legislators from other countries coming around me, I was abandoned. And they, at each time, each conference, gravitated towards Tajudeen Abbas.

“I spoke to the speaker of Kenya one time and he asked me how long Tajudeen has been in parliament, I told him. He said that each time his members come home, they keep talking about him (Abbas). He ran on his own and became the treasurer of the African parliament. So, Tajudeen is somebody I felt we could be proud of as members of the house of representatives.

That’s not to say that others don’t have the capacity. But there’s capacity, and there’s capacity.”

Against the backdrop that the immediate past assembly was perceived by some Nigerians to be a “rubber stamp. Said said the 10th national assembly won’t be a rubber stamp as a speaker. While he will maintain legislative independence, the parliament will work with the executive for the benefit of Nigerians.“There will be no way that the independence of our national assembly under our leadership will be compromised.

This you can take to the market,” he said With Abbas ascending the throne of the number four seat in the country, all eyes are fixed on him, as he orchestrates the symphony of the green chamber over the course of the next four years.

By the dictates of the longstanding tradition, Abbas is in line to ascend the illustrious throne as the Emir of Zazzau.

Dukawa write in from Triumph Newspaper