‘Why APC Should Zone Senate Presidency To South-East, Speakership To North-West’

The National Unity Group (NUG) has appealed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to consider zoning the 10th Senate Presidency to the South-East and the speakership to the North-West.

In a statement issued on Monday, the group’s National Chairman, Omotayo Gbadebo, said the proposed zoning arrangement is in the interest of fair play, equity, morality, and justice.

Gbadebo stated the zoning arrangement if adopted will douse the high political tension in the country, stressing that the action would usher in peace and douse tension.

The statement reads: “The scenario we are in now is similar to what we had in 1999. Remember that because of June 12, the military decided to compensate the south-west for peace to reign.

“Hence Alliance for Democracy (AD) was registered even when it did not meet up with the requirements and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deliberately picked a Yoruba man, Chief Obasanjo as its candidate and its vice president (Atiku Abubakar) from north-east.

“When the government was sworn in, the Senate President was given to the south-east (Evans Anwerem/Chuba Okadigbo/Anyim Pius Anyim), Speaker of the House of Representatives was given to the north-west (Salisu Buhari/Ghali NaÁbba/Aminu Masari) while deputy senate president went to north-central (Haruna Abubakar/Ibrahim Mantu) and deputy speaker to the south-south (Chibudom Nwuche/Austin Opara). The PDP national chairman (Solomon Lar) was from north-central.

“Presently, there are mindless killings in the South-East and agitations as it was in the South-West then let the party give them senate president so that they can have a sense of belonging in the Nigerian project.

“For North-West, it is the biggest geo-political zone with the highest number of votes (2.9m) in the presidential elections, which is approximately 34 percent of the total votes that gave the president-elect victory. As such, you can’t abandon this geopolitical zone with seven states.

“Therefore, for fair play, equity and morality, north-west should be given the number 4 position for the zone to have a sense of belonging in the project Nigeria, while south-east should be given number 3. Anything short of number 4 for the north-west will be morally wrong and it will be tantamount to rejection or non-recognition of the zone which contributed more than any other zone in the emergence of the president.

“We are urging the APC leadership and president-elect to as a matter of equity, fairness and stability of the nation, pay special attention to the appropriate zoning of principal offices and political positions in the next administration.”