Ondo state Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Wednesday faulted the zoning arrangement of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 10th National Assembly, describing it as a “skewed arrangement that reinforces injustice.”
“It is trite to aver that it stands logic on the head that one geo-political zone, Northwest in this regard, will be favored with two presiding officer positions out of four while North Central suffers the consequences for its innocence and shrewd loyalty by having none,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said in a statement.
On Monday, the APC National Working Committee zoned the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
The party organ zoned the Senate President to the South-South, Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), and the Deputy Senate President to the North-West, Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano).
Others are the Speaker of the House of Representatives (North-West): Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna), and the Deputy Speaker (South-East): Ben Kalu (Abia).
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Reacting to the development, Akeredolu described APC’s zoning arrangement as “unworkable” adding that it “reinforces injustice and enhances inequity”.
The governor said “it stands logic on the head” that the north-west would be getting two positions in the parliament leadership while the north-central is rewarded with none.
He accused “a few individuals with eyes on Aso Rock Power Buttons” of attempting to “cabin” the presidency of Bola Tinubu.
“It is with great concern, and indeed, with a huge burden that I read in the news of the purported zoning arrangement released by the national working committee of our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) as regards the leadership positions in the yet-to-be inaugurated national assembly,” Akeredolu wrote.
“Aside from the unpretentious ambiguity in the purported press statement issued by the leadership of the APC, the contents, intentions and motives of the zoning formula represent early signs of steps aimed at attempts to cabin the hard-earned presidency for our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by a few individuals with eyes on Aso Rock Power Buttons.
“It is trite to aver, that, it stands logic on the head that one geo-political zone, Northwest in this regard, will be favoured with two presiding officers positions out of four while Northcentral suffers the consequences for its innocence and shrewd loyalty by having none.
“It is an insidious permutation that Northeast will be deprived in the face of the unsavoury generosity dispensed through two slots to a particular geo-political zone. It is self-repudiating for one to argue, therefore, that the speaker of the House of Representatives cannot also emerge from the Northeast.
“Therefore, the move to zone the national assembly leadership positions on the behest of interested personalities with perceived closeness to the president-elect manifesting lays the dangerous foundation of distrust, and needless suspicion even as it structures nothing but a combination of booby traps. We must avoid all these.
“Let the North play stronger, more robust and all-inclusive roles in the emergence of the positions zoned to the region, especially the speakership.
“It is in this regard that I salute the courage of the speakership aspirants for their show of solidarity, companionship and applaudable love for the party in their rejection, resentment and objection to the brazenly teleguided zoning arrangement that is skewed and targeted against some zones and identified individuals.
“Their action is commendable just as they are urged to ensure they pursue this to a logical conclusion. This is an unworkable arrangement that reinforces injustice and enhances inequity, and I join them in rejecting this zoning formula.”
Meanwhile, Senators-elect across the North-Central geopolitical zone from different political parties rejected the zoning arrangements for the 10th National Assembly leadership positions announced by the APC.
The development forced the North-Central senators-elect to write an open letter to the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, and rejected the zoning arrangements because it excluded their region.
Specifically, the elected federal lawmakers said only the North-Central geopolitical zone did not produce any presiding officer although neither the President-elect nor the Vice President-elect.
The letter by the lawmakers-elect was titled, ‘Resolution of the North Central Caucus of the 10th Senate on NASS Leadership Zoning’.
The letter was signed by 18 senators-elect including Mohammed Musa (Niger East); Ashiru Oyelola (Kwara South); Sadiq Umar (Kwara North); Mustapha Saliu (Kwara Central) and Isah Jibrin (Kogi East).
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