The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has thanked the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, for helping him emerge Speaker.

To emerge speaker, Mr. Dogara defeated his challenger, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was supported by their party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Speaking at a Thanksgiving Service held in his honour at the Church of Christ in all Nations, COCIN, Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi State, the speaker said the Sultan intervened in his election despite his being a Christian.

“This victory; what he celebrate here today, won’t have been possible without God, the Sultanate and others across the country,” he told the church congregation. “For us who are Christian minorities in the North, we should acknowledge that this victory we are celebrating here today, was made possible by the intervention of the Sultan and other others. We should know that there is new thinking in the North.”

“We owe it a duty to make sure we unite our own part of the country and other parts of the country. My emergence as Speaker is as a result of the support of all major tribes of Nigeria, and all faiths in Nigeria,” he said.

Mr. Dogara hails from same part of Bauchi State as Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, late Tafawa Balewa. He did not, however, state how the Sultan helped him win the election.

Credit: PremiumTimes