Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
As jostle for the leadership positions in ninth edition of the National Assembly gets more intriguing, a North-east political interest group, the North-east Progressive Youth Forum (NPYF) has rallied support for Senator Danjuma Goje to emerge as Senate President.
It said that the former Gombe State governor was best suited to pilot the affairs of the incoming 9th Senate as Senate President.
The leader of NPYF, Rimam Tsokwa who addressed a press conference in Abuja, said the position of the Senate President required a good, incontrovertible democrat with passion and vision to serve for the benefit of the general public.
“It is not in doubt that, such office should be occupied by someone whose track records speak volume of experience to influence reconcile and create synergy between the legislature and the executive arms of government,” he said.
He said NPYF was supporting Senator Goje because of his wealth of experience which was second to none among the contenders of the Senate President in the 9th Senate.
According to the leader of the group, “Goje is humble, fearless, pragmatic, passionate and a true democrat to the core.
“We the members of the North-east Progressive Youth Forum and also stakeholders in the affairs of our zone are throwing our weight of support to Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje to be the Senate President of the 9th Senate having considered the credentials of all the contestants.
“He is a leader with Pan-Nigerian outlook, having served as a Minister under the Obasanjo’s 1999 regime, a period when our infant democracy needs people who could help lay a solid foundation, he was nominated and confirmed to serve because of his intellectual capacity to deliver.”
Tsokwa further said that Goje had proven by his style of leadership as a two term governor of Gombe State, who was able to transform the state from a rural state to the most amiable urban state in the North-east.
While commending APC for zoning the Senate President position to the North-East, the group appealed to the party to ensure that each of the six geo-political zones was ably represented in the zoning arrangement.
Tsokwa said that in addition, the group was opposed to the move to zone the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the Southwest on the grounds that the zone has enough representation in the present government.
They also urged the party make sure that there is some kind of religious balance in the distribution of office positions in National Assembly.
“We have six geopolitical zones and six key positions ranging from the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria down to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative. For equity, justice and fair play, each of the six geo-political zones should be ably represented. The president is from the North-West, the Vice President is from the South-West, the Senate President zoned to North-East, while the three zones, that is, North-Central, South-South, South-East deserve the distribution of the under listed offices, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively. It will be unfair to zone the office of the Speaker to the South-West leaving North – Central, South-South and South-East out of the zoning arrangement,” he said.
