Femi Gbajabiamila

The Honourable Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila
Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 June 2019
Preceded by	Yakubu Dogara
House Leader of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office June 2015 – 12 June 2019
Preceded by	Ogor Okuweh
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office June 2011 – June 2015
Succeeded by	Ogor Okuweh
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office June 2007 – June 2011
Preceded by	Ahmed Salik
Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office 2003–2007
Personal details
Born	(1962-06-25) 25 June 1962 (age 59) Lagos State, Nigeria
Nationality	Nigerian
Political party	All Progressive Congress (APC)
Spouse(s)	Salamatu Gbajabiamila
Residence	Lagos
Alma mater	University of Lagos
Occupation	Legislature
Website	http://femigbajabiamila.com

Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila (born 25 June 1962), is a Nigerian lawyer, All Progressives Congress Leader, and Speaker of Nigeria's 9th House of Representatives.^[1]

Early life and education[]

Olufemi "Femi" Hakeem Gbajabiamila was born on 25 June 1962 to the family of Mr and Mrs Lateef Gbajabiamila and Olufunke Gbajabiamila in Lagos, Nigeria. He attended Mainland Preparatory School for elementary education and Igbobi College in 1973 where he completed his secondary education. Subsequently he enrolled at King William's College on the Isle of Man, United Kingdom for his A-Level.^[2] He was accepted into the University of Lagos, Nigeria.^[3] He graduated from Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) with honors in 1983 and was called to the Nigerian bar in 1984.^[1]

He first worked for the law firm, Bentley Edu & Co., in Lagos, before establishing his own law firm, Femi Gbaja & Co. He then earned his Juris Doctor from Atlanta's John Marshall Law School in Georgia, USA, passed the Georgian bar exam in 2001, and set up a law firm in Atlanta. While in the USA, he actively participated in the election of Bill Campbell who later went on to become Mayor of Atlanta.^[1]

Political career[]

Gbajabiamila was elected to the House of representative in 2003, and re-elected in 2007. He represents the Surulere I constituency of Lagos State (see Nigerian National Assembly delegation from Lagos) in the House of Representatives.^[3] He is the Speaker of the House of Representation.

Gbajabiamila has criticized members of Congress for switching parties. He suggested that many voters don't have access to the information to make choices based on every individual stance, and therefore are sometimes only voting for candidates based on their party alignment. He criticized floppers with this in mind, saying the effect "cannot be anything but negative."^[4]

Gbajabiamila was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives in the 7th National Assembly.^[5] He was head of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating claims by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) that 140.9 Billion Naira (about $1Bn), which was owed by 'Zenon Petroleum & Gas Limited' and 'Forte Oil Plc', has been paid. The call for an investigation of the reported payment was made by another lawmaker, Bimbo Daramola who moved the motion that the House set up a panel to verify the claims by AMCON that the Femi Otedola-owned two companies have paid back the money which the government of Nigeria paid for petroleum products reportedly not delivered as agreed upon by the dictates of the government's fuel subsidy scheme.

Bimbo Daramola had suspected that the payment, if truly made, was "shrouded in secrecy."^[6]

He was elected speaker in the 9th National Assemly House of Representative with 283 votes while his opponent Mohammed Umar Bago came Second with 78 votes.^[7]

Corruption allegations[]

After the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in August 2021, Gbajabiamila and other legislators were accused of receiving bribes to guarantee the legislation's advancement despite significant public opposition to parts of the text. According to Peoples Gazette reporting, at least $10 million was paid to legislators in payments organized by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva and Akwa Ibom North-East Senator Bassey Albert Akpan with between $1.5 million and $2 million going to both Gbajabiamila and Senate President Ahmad Lawan. Multiple legislators corroborated the story with several legislators expressing anger, not that the Gbajabiamila and Lawan allegedly took bribes but instead that the bribes were not shared equally among the legislators as other legislators claimed to have received $5,000 for representatives and $20,000 for senators. Gbajabiamila, Lawan, Sylva, and Akpan all declined to comment on the story.^[8][9]

See also[]

Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila has shown over the years that he is committed to the development of his constituency and the numerous constituents that voted him into office. The sheer number of constituency projects that he has embarked upon since his ascendance to the Speakership position has led to insinuations that he is gearing up to contest for the governorship position of Lagos State in the next general elections. However, this has been refuted by the performing Federal Legislator.^[10] While some political analysts believe that the refutation is just an attempt to divert the attention of people from the political scheming towards 2023 general election, there is a general belief that Gbajabiamila cannot afford to become redundant post-2023. Although, Rt. Honourable Gbajabiamila emphatically stated that he nurtures no ambition towards becoming the next governor of Lagos State, a significant number of political analysts are of the opinion that he is more than qualified to take the reins of executive governor of Lagos if the need arises.^[11]

References[]

External links[]

• Ibiam, Agha (2004-04-24). "A Lawmaker's Obsession With Education". Thisday. Leaders & Company. Archived from the original on 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2007-10-23.