By Ismail Auwal
The Majority Leader at the House of Representatives Alhassan Ado Doguwa has said that has planned to receive his 30th as he welcomed his 28th child.
A drama erupted in the plenary on Tuesday, when the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, announced that one of Doguwa’s four wives had a new child.
Elumelu said, “Mr Speaker, mine is to congratulate my brother, the Leader of the House. He currently has 28 children and still counting. He just received double a few days ago. That made it 28. It was 26, now 28,” when he was asked if there is any announcement he want to make.
Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House, asked the Majority Leader to defend himself, saying he didn’t understand what Elumelu was saying.
On a happier note, Ado-Doguwa stated that he was considering allocating a polling unit to his private home as part of the Electoral Act 2020 amendments because he plans to have up to 30 children before the end of the current 9th National Assembly.
Ado-Doguwa said, “Mr Speaker, I didn’t know that you were talking about me. This is no longer news. It is no longer news because this thing happened in the last 24 hours. It is true that my beloved family had gotten an additional one person, not two like you (Elumelu) said. And it is a baby girl, bouncing. “The mother and the baby are hale and hearty. The husband is still active; I am here. And I thank God that I kept to my words to the House of Reps; that while I had 27, I promised you that I would continue counting. I want you to know, by the grace of God and your prayer, that the count will continue. Thank you and God bless Nigeria.”
He said that , “Now that we are considering the Electoral Act amendment, I will also – when we get to the floor, perhaps at the Committee of the Whole – appeal to my members so that we suspend the relevant rules; we have a clause in the Electoral Act where it permits families that do have 30 kids in their homes to have an electoral polling unit in that family.”
Gbajabiamila asked, “So, Leader, you are working towards (having) a polling unit in your house. Now that you have 28 children, you have two more to go.”
Responding, Ado-Doguwa said, “Yes, between now and 2023, before the election comes, if you allow that, then I will have a polling unit within my home.”
The Speaker said, “Congratulations, Leader of the House.”
The Majority Leader replied, “Thank you so much, Mr Speaker. I thank you honourable members. Please, the count still continues.”
It could be recalled that Ado-Doguwa stormed the chamber with his four wives during his inauguration as Majority Leader of the House in 2019.
Then, after showing lawmakers his wives, he revealed that he had 27 children “and counting.”
