The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has endorsed Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is returning to the upper legislative chamber to represent Akwa Ibom North West district, as the President of the 10th Senate to be inaugurated next month.
The NWC also approved Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano North district) as its Deputy Senate-nominee, while the Hon. Abass Tajudeen (representing Zaria federal constituency, Kaduna State) as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Hon. Ben Kalu (Bende federal constituency, Abia State) is the party’s preferred candidate as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
According to a statement on Monday by APC National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, the zoning arrangement has Senate President (South-South), Deputy Senate President (North West), Speaker of the House of Representatives (North West) and Deputy Speaker (South East).
He explained that the NWC had a meeting on Monday to consider reports of consultations and meetings held with the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and other stakeholders on the zoning arrangement for the 10th National Assembly.
Morka said that the NWC called for further and better consultation with necessary stakeholders in order to assure the support of the aspirants to the National Assembly leadership positions and members of the party nationwide.
He further said that the party urged its leaders, members, and all Nigerians to continue to work for the peace and progress of the country during and beyond the current period of leadership transition.
But pockets of protest, particularly by APC North Central stakeholders, trailed the decision. The zone is not represented in any of the four principal positions announced.
The protesters registered their displeasure over the marginalisation of their region in the zoning of the Senate presidency. This was even as they insisted that the North-Central would not accept anything less than Speaker of the House of Representatives as compensation for the sake of equity and federal character.
The decision to ratify the positions was said to have been taken after the party leadership met with Tinubu on Friday.
Chanting solidarity songs and displaying several banners, the protesters made spirited attempts to disrupt the NWC meeting. But they rebuffed by stern-looking policemen who mounted guard at the entrance to the national headquarters of the APC.
The spokesman for APC North Central Stakeholders, Salihu Ibrahim told The PUNCH that they find the plan to scheme out North Central from the Senat3 sharing formula as outrageous.
Ibrahim also lamented that it would be unfair and selfish for the leadership of the party not to accord them the Speaker after all the efforts and votes they contributed to Tinubu’s victory.
He said: “Our purpose of storming the APC secretariat today is to see the APC national chairman. We want to ask him what is good for the North Central after much contribution to the growth, development and achievement of APC today. But to my greatest surprise, we learnt that North Central is not considered for the senate president and Deputy Senate president zoning. The party is not even seeking to compensate us with Speaker, which from every indication is going to be zoned to the North East. That is the height of marginalisation.
“It is disappointing to know that this is happening under the watch of the national chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who is also from the North Central. So we want to ask him, what is good for us in the North Central? What was the yardstick or parameter that APC is deploying for the sharing formula of principal offices?
“After all, it is on record that we contributed a lot tirelessly. We all have them on record. That was why we came out here to protest this marginalisation. We need to remind all of us who are members of APC and the people of Nigeria that the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, we are all celebrating today emerged as the flagbearer of APC based on the ideology of the party zoning the presidency to the South.
“It is outrageous to discover that we are not going to be given the chance for Senate president, Deputy Senate president and even the speaker. We cannot take this. That’s why we won’t leave here today until we hear from our father, the national chairman of the APC. We are therefore asking that the Speaker of the House be zoned to the North Central”.
Barely one hour after the protest, a second group of demonstrators from the same region drummed their way to the party secretariat screaming that they want to see the party leadership address the unfair treatment meted to North Central.
The protesters, who identified themselves as North Central Democratic Coalition, also demanded the office of the Speaker or nothing.
The leader of the group, Ben Amodu said: “We have come here in our numbers to demand the zoning of the Speakership position in the North Central. A non-action implies that the region would be left out of the scheme of things because the vice president is from the North-East and the North-West is in strong contention for Senate leadership position”.
A third group of demonstrators under the umbrella of Coalition of APC Geo-Political Zones Support Group braved the heavy downpour to join other protesters to press on the same demand.
