The House of Representatives has named its new minority leaders after a week of back and forth over who should fill the roles in the opposition group.
The Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, shared the news during Thursday's plenary session. He read a letter from the minority members of the 10th House of Representatives.
Mr Tajudeen explained that the nomination followed Order 7 Rule 7 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, 12th Edition.
He said the minority caucus reached an agreement on who should take the open leadership roles.
"By virtue of Order Seven Rule Seven of the Standing Orders, 12th Edition of the House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria, the minority members of the 10th Assembly have duly nominated the following members by consensus to fill the vacant positions of the minority in the Parliament," the Speaker stated.
The Speaker named Fred Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa) as the minority leader.
He also appointed Manu Soro (APM, Bauchi) as the minority whip. Abdussamad Dasuki (ADC, Sokoto) was chosen as the deputy minority leader.
"The Minority Leader is Fred Agbedi. The Minority Whip, and the person they have endorsed, is no other than Right Honourable Manu Soro. The last, but not the least, is my brother from the Northwest, Right Honourable Abdussamad Dasuki, as the Deputy Minority Leader," Mr Tajudeen said.
After the announcement, the Speaker congratulated the new leaders. He said this completed the leadership structure of the House.
"Today, the body of principal officers is complete, and I want to seize this opportunity on behalf of the whole House to congratulate the three people and wish them all the best in their new positions," he said.
He promised that the House leadership would work with the new minority leaders to achieve the goals of the 10th Assembly.
"The leadership of the House will work with them seriously in ensuring that we achieve our legislative agenda objectives of this very important Assembly," he added.
After the announcement, minority lawmakers, including Ikenga Ugochinyere (APP, Imo), gathered at the Speaker's lobby to welcome and congratulate the new leaders.
This gathering showed unity among the minority caucus after a few days of disagreements over leadership roles.
The lawmakers exchanged greetings with the new leaders.
This announcement came after days of uncertainty over who would lead the minority after an earlier plan to nominate Mr Ugochinyere as Minority Leader caused a stir among lawmakers.
The dispute was about the House rules on who could hold principal offices, especially the need for "cognate experience" in legislative duties.
During Wednesday's session, Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) moved a motion to highlight the House's rules on what lawmakers need to qualify for leadership roles.
Mr Salam argued that the rules required lawmakers nominated for principal offices to have the necessary legislative experience.
The resolution of this disagreement allowed the minority caucus to submit new consensus nominations, which the Speaker announced on Thursday.
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