The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has described as fake, the news making the rounds that he planned to retain his post in the 9th Assembly.
He described the report as the handiwork of some mischief makers.
Dogara said he had no such intention.
He said if he had, he would have made it known as he did not believe in hide and seek game.
He urged members of the public to disregard the news.
His denial is contained in a statement issued by his media aide, Turaki Hassan, on Sunday.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to stories published in some national dailies to the effect that His Excellency, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has joined the race for the Speakership of the 9th Assembly.
“We wish to distance the Speaker from the fake news being pushed and circulated by mischief makers and enemies of progress who want to create confusion in order to benefit and feast on it.
“The Rt. Hon. Speaker has always spoken for himself and would not be engaged in childish hide and seek games. When he contested in 2015 he openly sought for support and openly canvassed for votes and there is nothing stopping him from doing so now if that were the case.
“We have official channels of communication and we have not issued any statement to that effect.
“We urge members of the public to totally disregard the fake news being published about the Speaker.”
It would be recalled that Majority Leader of the House of Representatives in the 8th Assembly, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, is a top contender for the post of Speaker.
Already he has been adopted for the position by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, of which he is a member.
“The APC has adopted Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, as its candidate for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Ninth Assembly,” the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu, disclosed after the decision was taken a few weeks ago.
