Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila (born 25 June 1962), is a Nigerian lawyer and politician. A member of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...

(APC), Gbajabiamila has served as Speaker of the House of Representatives since 2019.

Early life and education

Olufemi "Femi" Hakeem Gbajabiamila was born on 25 June 1962 to Lateef Gbajabiamila and Olufunke Gbajabiamila in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria. He attended Mainland Preparatory School for elementary education and

Igbobi College Igbobi College is a college established by the Methodist and Anglican Churches in 1932, in the Yaba suburb of Lagos, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria. It is still on its original site and most of the original buildings are intact. It is one ...

in 1973, where he completed his secondary education. Subsequently, he enrolled at

King William's College King William's College (nicknamed KWC or King Bill's; gv, Colleish Ree Illiam) is an independent school for pupils aged 3 to 18, located near Castletown on the Isle of Man. It is a member of the International Baccalaureate and Headmasters' and ...

on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

for his

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. He was accepted into the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

, Nigeria. He graduated with a Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) with honors in 1983 and was called to the Nigerian bar in 1984. 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 The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Atlanta's John Marshall Law School Atlanta's John Marshall Law School (AJMLS) is a private for-profit law school in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1933 and named for John Marshall, the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. AJMLS is accredited by th ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, USA, passed the Georgian bar exam in 2001, and set up a law firm in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. While in the USA, he actively participated in the election of Bill Campbell who later went on to become

Mayor of Atlanta Here is a list of mayors of Atlanta, Georgia. The mayor is the highest elected official in Atlanta. Since its incorporation in 1847, the city has had 61 mayors. The current mayor is Andre Dickens who was elected in the 2021 election and took o ...

Political career

Gbajabiamila was first elected to the House of representatives in 2003, he represents the Surulere I constituency of

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

. Gbajabiamila has criticized members of the National Assembly 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, sometimes vote for candidates based on their party alignment. He criticized floppers with this in mind, saying the effect "cannot be anything but negative." Gbajabiamila was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives in the 7th National Assembly. He was head of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating claims by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) about the 140.9bn naira (about $1Bn) debt owed by 'Zenon Petroleum & Gas Limited' and 'Forte Oil Plc'. 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 Femi Otedola (born 4 November 1962) is a Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, and former chairman of Forte Oil PLC, an importer of fuel products. Otedola is the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, and the owner of a number of other busin ...

-owned two companies have paid back the money which the government of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

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." He was elected speaker in the 9th National Assembly House of Representative with 283 votes while his opponent

Mohammed Umar Bago Mohammed Umar Bago (born 22 February 1974) is a Nigerian politician. He was born in Minna, Niger State, to a Nupe family, He is a member of parliament for Chanchaga, Federal Constituency. He stands with the APC Party. He ran in the 9th National ...

came Second with 78 votes.

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 ''Peoples Gazette'' is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Abuja. It launched in 2020. The online medium is notable for its investigative journalism, among other fields. Launching ''Peoples Gazette'' was launched in 2020 by Samuel Ogundipe, a ...

reporting, at least $10 million was paid to legislators in payments organized by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources

Timipre Sylva Timipre Marlin Sylva (born 7 July 1964) is a Nigerian politician, he is a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, and the current Nigeria Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. Early life and background Sylva was born in Brass, Bayelsa ...

and Akwa Ibom North-East Senator Bassey Albert Akpan with between $1.5 million and $2 million going to both Gbajabiamila and

Senate President President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for ex ...

Ahmad Lawan Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (born 12 January 1959) is a Nigerian politician and professor who has served as President of the Senate of Nigeria since 2019. He represents the Yobe North Senatorial District in the Senate as a member of the All Progressi ...

. 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.

Awards

In October 2022, a Nigerian national honour of

Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic The Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) is one of two orders of merit, established by the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1963. It is senior to the Order of the Niger. The highest honours where the Grand Commander in the Order of the Federal R ...

(CFR) was conferred on him by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

References

External links