Concerned stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress have called on the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the National Working Committee of the party to consider federal character and competence before zoning the principal offices of the 10th National Assembly.
This is even as they threw their weight behind former Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, and Chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau, to emerge as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively.
The development is coming two days after the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, met with APC governors and admonished them to work with the party leadership and lawmakers to elect principal officers of the National Assembly.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday, the Convener of Concerned APC Members Forum, Okpokwu Ogenyi, expressed concerns that having come this after their overwhelming victory at the just concluded 2023 general elections, it is only fair they play by the rule of equity and federal character.
He said, “As believers in the Nigerian project, our appeal to the party is to consider federal character in the zoning of the 10th senate leadership bearing in mind, competence and credibility with an understanding that Nigeria is a circular state with multi-faith and six geo-political zones.
“The President-elect needs highly competent senators with vast knowledge of legislative business to complement him in delivering dividends of democracy to Nigerians. We are aware that zoning is not done in a vacuum, so we highly recommend H.E Senator Godswill Akpabio for the position of Senate President and Senator Barau I. Jibrin as Deputy Senate President respectively.
“This will go a long way in building the confidence of APC members across the country in preparation for the future of our great party, the APC. In the National Assembly, Senator Akpabio is the most ranking senator from the South-South under the platform of the APC while Senator Barau I. Jibrin is the most ranking senator from the North West.
Ogenyi appealed to the national chairman and members of the National Working Committee of the party to zone the Senate Presidency seat to the South-South and the Deputy Senate President to the North West, preferably micro-zoned to Akwa Ibom State and Deputy Senate President to Kano State.
“It is pertinent to note that, in the South, South-South contributed the second highest votes after South-West which house the President-elect. The North-West gave the party the highest votes in the North with Kano state consistently giving APC the highest vote per state in every election since the formation of the APC,” he added.
