APC to take a decision on the zoning of National Assembly positions after Ramadan

NIGERIA'S ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has announced that it intends to reveal details of its National Assembly zoning plans at the end of the Ramadan fasting period next month.

With Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from the southwest elected as Nigeria's president and Senator Kashim Shettima from the northeast elected as vice president, the race for the senate president is open to candidates from all of the other four geo-political zones. Ranking senators from the northwest, south-south, southeast and north central geo-political zones are already positioning themselves for the coveted position, three months before elections are due.

It is believed the APC, however, zoned the senate president to either the south-south or southeast geo-political zones in the 10th National Assembly but is waiting on president-elect Tinubu to return from holiday abroad to make a final decision on the matter. Senator Ajibola Basiru, the senate spokesperson, said the APC was likely to release the zoning formula for after the Ramadan fast.

Nigeria's Muslims are currently observing the holt month but fasting will end on Friday April 21, with Saturday April 22 being a day of festivities. Once the celebrations are out of the way, the APC is expected to get down to business.

For now, about eight senators had indicated an interest in the senate presidency race, including Jibrin Barau (Kano Central), Sani Musa (Niger East), Orji Kalu (Abia North) and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa-Ibom North-West ). Others are Osita Izunaso (Imo West), Patrick Ndubueze (Imo North), Abdul’Aziz Yari (Zamfara West),and Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North).

For now, the party is yet to officially announce its zoning formula or hold another meeting with the lawmakers after the initial one following the elections. Senator Basiru noted that beyond tribe and religion, there were other parameters that should be considered in the choice of the National Assembly leadership such as ranking, competence, capacity and zonal contribution to the victory in the February 25 presidential elections.

Senator Basiru said: “I believe that our party will ultimately take a decision on the zoning possibly after Ramadan and certainly before June when the next National Assembly will be convoked. It will be in the best interest of our party to zone the offices so that we can narrow the number of contestants because when you have eight persons from a single political party contesting, it creates a problem for us to have a cohesive force going into the election.”

He also added that APC national working committee and the party’s national executive committee had not taken any decision yet on which of the six geo-political zones will produce the next senate president. Last month, Asiwaju Tinubu left Nigeria and is currently in Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj after brief stopovers in the UK and France.