North central governors reject National Assembly leadership positions zoning arrangement

STATE governors from Nigeria's north central geo-political zone have rejected the recent zoning of the 10th National Assembly leadership positions agreed to by the top brass of the  by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and requested a meeting to review it.

Over the last week, president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has been involved in a series of meetings with members of both houses of the National Assembly, where it appears that the party has agreed on the leaders of the two chambers. From all indications, Hon Abbas Tajudeen from Kaduna State has been adopted as the speaker of the House of Representatives, with Hon Benjamin Kalu from Abia State named as the party's candidate for deputy speaker.

In the senate, the APC high command has settled for Senator Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District as the senate president, while Senator Jibrin Barau from Kano North Senatorial District has been picked as his deputy.  This arrangement has given the northwest geo-political zone two juicy positions and the north central zone none, which is causing consternation within the party.

Unhappy with the arrangement, the north central governors have scheduled a meeting with president-elect Bola Tinubu and the APC chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Yesterday, the governors held a meeting in the at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja that was attended by some of the National Assembly leadership position aspirants from the zone.

Governors at the meeting included Abubakar Bello of Governor Niger State, Simon Lalong of Plateau State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak of Kwara State, Abdullahi Sule of Nassarawa State, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and  Reverend Hyacinth Alia the governor-elect of Benue State. Aspirants present at the meeting included deputy House of Reps speaker Hon Idris Wase, Senator Sani Musa and Hon Yusuf Gagdi.

A spokesman for the governors said:  “North central as a geopolitical zone is fully committed to supporting the incoming administration of the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a better Nigeria. We will do everything possible to ensure the Renewed Hope agenda is actualised for the prosperity of all Nigerians.

“We reviewed the proposed zoning structure released and promised to reach out to the president-elect His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu and APC national working committee to appeal for reconsideration of the zoning of the presiding offices of the National Assembly. We raised reservation about the zoning formula released with the allocation of the positions of the deputy senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives of the 10th National Assembly to a particular geo-political zone of the country.”

Furthermore, the governors resolved and agreed to fully utilise all necessary dialogue and consultations to resolve the issue. They agreed to reach out to all major stakeholders for an amicable and acceptable zoning framework that will be all-inclusive and appealed to all senators and members-elect to continue to give Mr President-elect all the support needed for the smooth take-up of the 10th National Assembly, while also furthering consultations.