Osama al-Nujaifi

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Osama al-Nujaifi
أسامة النجيفي
Speaker of the Council of Representatives
In office
11 November 2010 – 15 July 2014
Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki
Preceded byFuad Masum (Acting)
Succeeded bySalim al-Jabouri
Minister of Industry
In office
3 May 2005 – 20 May 2006
Prime MinisterIbrahim al-Jaafari
Preceded byHajim al-Hassani (Interim)
Succeeded byFawzi Hariri
Personal details
Born
Usama Abdu'l Aziz al-Nujayfi

1956 (age 67–68)
Baghdad, Iraq
ProfessionEngineer, politician

Osama Abdul Aziz al-Nujaifi

speaker of the Council of Representatives, the informal leader of the moderate Sunni al-Hadba party was the highest ranking Sunni politician of Iraq
.

An engineer by profession, al-Nujaifi served as Minister of Industry in the 2005–06

prime minister al-Maliki
staunchest adversary, whom as a Sunni he could defy but not challenge. After leaving offices together with al-Maliki in 2014, he was rewarded the ceremonial post of a Vice President of Iraq, which he held until 2015. The positions of all three Vice Presidents was restored in October 2016.

Early life, education and early career

al-Nujaifi was born 1956 in

Arabian horses for his family.[5]
The Al-Nujaifi family also have Turkish origins.

In 1978, al-Nujaifi earned a degree in electrical engineering, from the University of Mosul. Shortly after graduation, he worked in the Iraqi government's electricity ministry for 12 years,[6] involved in building power plants.

Together with his brother Atheel, the later governor of Nineveh, in the early 1990s he took over his family's agricultural company, and particularly started out in the Arabian horse trade.[7]

During the rule of

Qusai.[8]

Political career

In the Iraqi Transitional Government, al-Nujaifi was appointed Minister of Industry. During his one-year tenure, he privatized most of the state-owned companies which included firms working in sectors from petrochemical and cement to sugar, silk and heavy industry. He campaigned against the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq.[9]

Following the

Iraqi legislative election of December 2005, he was nominated by the Iraqi National List to become a member of the Council of Representatives. On 26 January 2006, he survived an assassination attempt, when a roadside bomb detonated close to his convoy near the town of Balad, killing three of his bodyguards.[10] Heading a parliamentary committee to assess the humanitarian situation in Nineveh Governorate, he criticized the conduct of governor Duraid Kashmoula: "We have seen no trace of the huge sums of money said to have been appropriated for the province and could gather no idea on how they were spent."[11]

In September 2006 al-Nujaifi's bodyguard was assassinated.

intelligence operatives.[14]

Speaker of the Council of Representatives

The al-Nujaifi brothers'

Massoud Barzani secured al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani's posts.[6] In his first parliamentary speech, Nujafi however held al-Maliki's government responsible for the country's "fear, hunger, poverty and corruption," adding that Iraq was considered today "the most corrupt country in the world."[5]

In his first visit to the US as Iraqi parliament speaker, al-Nujaifi refused following protocol, denying to place a wreath on the

Iraqi Army, until they were massively prosecuted by the al-Maliki government. "The policy of exclusion and marginalization of Sunnis and the arrest of thousands of them for illegal reasons provided a suitable ground for the return of al-Qaeda."[15]

Named "the inner circle's new face", Nujaifi by then was the highest-ranking Sunni politician of Iraq,[5] Within the increasingly fragmented Iraqiyya national bloc, al-Nujaifi's al-Hadba party shaped the new moderately Sunni Muttahidoon coalition, advocating a Sunni federal region in Iraq to contest the 2013 governorate elections. Seen by many as a future presidential prospect,[7] his new coalition however didn't succeed in playing a central role neither in the governorate elections nor in the 2014 parliamentary election. After a weeklong deadlock situation, al-Nujaifi agreed not to seek another term as parliamentary speaker, if al-Maliki also drops his premiership bid.[16] As the prime minister cleared the path, Salim al-Jabouri from the Muttahidoon-allied Diyala is Our Identity coalition became the new parliamentary speaker.

Vice president

al-Nujaifi was assigned the post of one of the three

Supreme Court of Iraq which termed their abolition as unconstitutional.[1] On 12 May 2017, he announced the establishment of a political party dubbed "United for Iraq" in Erbil.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b "Iraqi court nullifies Abadi's earlier decision to sack 3 vice president posts". Xinhua. 11 October 2016. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Will Mosul witness a political battle post-IS?". Al-Monitor. 18 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Iraq cuts off support for PKK, vice president says". TRT World. 13 February 2017.
  4. ^ According to political ballot in 2010 his name was listed as "Usama Abdulaziz Mohammad Abdulaziz."
  5. ^ a b c d John Lenand; Duraid Adnan (12 November 2010). "On His First Day, Iraq's Parliament Speaker Was Tested by Own Alliance". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Sunni Arab Osama named Iraq Speaker". The Peninsula. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d Hamza Mustafa (6 October 2013). "Osama Al-Nujaifi: Iraq's Future President?". Asharq Al-Awsat. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. ^ Ned Parker; Usama Redha (25 January 2009). "Arabs, Kurds take their fight to polls". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  9. Xinhua
    . 14 October 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Iraq minister escapes bomb attack". BBC News. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Mosul waits for "miracle" of peace in Iraq". AsiaNews. 11 July 2006. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  12. ^ "MP's bodyguard assassinated in Iraq". KUNA. 18 September 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  13. ^ "Kurdistani coalition walks out Iraqi parliament over Najifi statement". KUNA. 25 September 2006. Archived from the original on 28 October 2006 – via Iraq Updates.
  14. ^ "Kurdish Groups behind attacks on Assyrians in Mosul: Iraqi MP". AINA. 13 October 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  15. Al Monitor
    . Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. ^ "Iraq: Nujaifi says won't seek new term as speaker if Maliki drops premiership bid". Asharq Al-Awsat. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  17. ^ "Iraq crisis: Parliament swears in unity government". BBC News. 8 September 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  18. ^ "Iraq reforms: Parliament backs PM Haider al-Abadi's plan". BBC News. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  19. ^ "Iraq vice president files court case to keep his post".
  20. ^ Al-awsat, Asharq (1 September 2015). "Iraq: Maliki, Nujaifi say PM's decision to cancel vice president posts "unconstitutional"". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  21. ^ "Iraqi VP announces launch of new political party". Anadolu Agency. 12 May 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Usama al-Nujayfi.
Political offices
Preceded by Vice President of Iraq
2014–2015
2016–2018 		Succeeded by
Vacant
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