Tajudeen Abbas was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2011. On Saturday, he declared his intention to come back for a fifth consecutive term. He's currently the Speaker.

Abbas made the declaration at a rally in Zaria, Kaduna State, in front of thousands of supporters who had walked from the Emir's palace to the Mallawa Eid Ground. He said his campaign was built on a record. He said his constituency deserved experienced leadership. He said this was not the time for experiments.

That framing is worth sitting with. Abbas presides over the chamber that passed the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, approved the ₦58 trillion budget, and ratified the reforms that have reshaped how Nigerians earn and spend. He's describing continuity as the argument for staying. Not a new agenda. The work already done.

Abbas is a two-term speaker who has been in the building since Jonathan was president. In the fifteen years he's been in the House, Nigeria has had four presidents, six central bank governors, multiple rounds of fuel subsidy policy, and two significant devaluations. He was there for all of it. He helped pass the legislation that governs how much of your income the government takes. He will be on the ballot to keep doing it.

He told the rally he'd sponsored 74 bills, 21 of which became law. He cited a hospital, roads, tricycles distributed to constituents. He praised President Tinubu for courage in difficult reforms. His crowd cheered.

This is how Nigerian legislative tenure works. A lawmaker enters as a constituency man. He rises through committee positions. He builds relationships with executives. He accumulates the informal power that comes from knowing where everything is buried. By the time he reaches Speaker, he is indispensable to the people who need the legislature to function on their terms. And because he is indispensable, he can run for a fifth term in front of thousands of supporters and describe it as service.

The system doesn't produce this by accident. There are no term limits on Nigerian legislators. Nothing structurally prevents someone from occupying a seat for two decades. The only check is the ballot. In Zaria, that ballot is not a serious check.

Meanwhile, appeals against the APC's screening decisions run today.