The embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Wednesday night picked Peoples Democratic Party, PDP form for re-election into the House.
Dogara, who was elected to represent Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency of Bauchi state in the House of Representatives on the platform of APC in 2015, received the PDP House of Representatives form to contest during the 2019 general elections.
The speaker picked the form, a day after dozens of his constituents travelled from his home state in Bauchi to Abuja to persuade him to seek re-election.
Born to Yakubu Ganawuri and Saratu Yakubu on December 26, 1967, he began his education in 1976 at Gwarangah Primary School in the then Tafawa Balewa local government area of Bauchi State. Upon graduation in 1982, he proceeded to the Bauchi Teachers’ College for his secondary education, and obtained a Grade II Teachers’ Certificate in 1987. In 1988, he attended the University of Jos, Plateau State, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Law (LLB Hons.) degree in 1992.
From 1992 to 1993, Dogara was a student at the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Law School and was called to the bar in 1993. He later obtained a Masters (LLM) in International Commercial Law at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland.
Dogara was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2007 under the PDP platform. During the Sixth Assembly (2007-2011), Dogara chaired two House committees, namely the House Committee on Customs and Excise, and the House Services Committee. During this period, he was also a member of the House committees on Judiciary, Capital Markets and Institutions, Foreign Affairs, Rural Development and Power, among others.
During the Seventh Assembly (2011-2015), he served as Chairman of the committee on House Services and Welfare, and as a member of others including Judiciary, Land Transport, Labour, Employment and Productivity, Steel Development, and Legislative Budget and Research.
Dogara was elected Speaker on June 9, 2015, after a keenly contested election. Upon winning the contest, he introduced a legislative agenda for the Eighth House which would serve as its guiding document for a period of four years.
