As the new session of the National Assembly takes off  tomorrow ,fresh facts have emerged about the intrigues behind the battle for speakership of House of Representatives in particular.A returning member who described himself as a ‘loyal party man’ has said that ``nothing is certain ‘’ about who will become speaker.He said  this  in reaction to claims that the ruling PDP leaders have settled for Mulikat Adeola-Akande  as the new speaker from the South West. Adeola Akande is the new choice after the party dumped Muraina Ajibola seen as  a loyalist of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Newsdiaryonline was told today not to “rule out Aminu Tambuwal yet.Anything can happen.It is not certain for the party’s candidate until it is over”.According to the source  majority of the members (new and old ) feel that allowing the South West to produce Speaker is like rewarding failure. “These people voted massively for President Jonathan.That is okay.But they failed to reelect their federal lawmakers massively on the platform of PDP.They failed .So why reward them with the position of speaker.Well, the president can, of course, reward them with ministerial appointments but they should allow us to choose our leaders, that is the feeling here and I tell you it is not certain until it is over’’ the source said.``Even when some people said the new speaker should be a Muslim, these people from outside the House  want to choose who that Muslim should be,’’another source added.

But the issue of election of PDP or not by the  South West  is just one side of the story.Sources say the hoopla about speakership is being engineered by the presidency which is believed to have its own agenda and  is “jittery” about the House of Reps.``Yes, we know it  is the presidency and they have their agenda.It is not even a short term agenda, it is a long term agenda’’ a lawmaker told Newsdiaryonline. It was learnt that lawmakers and key stakeholders are already aware of the long term agenda of the presidency which implies “looking beyond 2015’’.This is being interpreted in unofficial circles to imply that some hawks in the presidency are already scheming to have President Jonathan stay beyond 2015, instead of the one term of four years he reportedly said he might be in power.

It is suspected in some circles   also that the presidency wants a loyal leader- like David Mark of the Senate- to be speaker of the House of Representatives. Mark has effectively clinched the post of Senate President as he will be returning virtually unopposed .But the House of Representatives has turned out to be  a  hot potato  after Dimeji Bankole, the outgoing speaker  failed in his reelection bid.

In a democracy any agenda of the president requires the approval of the legislature otherwise it would  be dead on arrival. That is why the National Assembly,-particularly the leadership - matters to the presidency.