•Zones Senate President to South-south, Speaker to North-west
*Endorses Akpabio for senate president, Abass for speaker
•Protesters storm APC secretariat, demand zoning of speaker to North-Central
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has zoned the positions of the Senate President of the 10th National Assembly to the South-south and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to North-West.
The ruling party has also agreed on a consensus as the former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been anointed as the next Senate President of the 10th Assembly, while Hon. Tajudeen Abass from Kaduna State has also been anointed as the Speaker of the House.
The leadership of the party reached the resolution following the meeting of the NWC held at the national secretariat of the party on Monday in Abuja.
The meeting started about 12:30 p.m and ended about 3:20p.m.
Briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka said the NWC reached a compromise on the zoning arrangement for the 10th Assembly.
His words: “The National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met today, Monday, May 8, 2023 to consider reports of consultations and meetings held with the President- Elect, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, other Party leaders and stakeholders on zoning arrangement for 10th National Assembly leadership positions.
“The NWC noted with respect the outcome of the meetings held between the President-Elect and the leadership of the NWC. 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.
“The zoning arrangement reported to the NWC is as follows: Senate President – South South Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Deputy Senate President – (North West), Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano).
“Speaker, House of Representatives North West-Hon. Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna); Deputy Speaker (South East), Hon. Ben Kalu (Abia).
“We urge our party leaders, members and all Nigerians to continue to work for peace and progress of our country during and beyond the current period of leadership transition.”
Meanwhile, a group of protesters under the umbrella of APC North-Central stakeholders on Monday stormed the national secretariat of the party, where they accused the ruling party of marginalizing the North Central in the zoning of National Assembly leadership positions.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the group, Salihu Ibrahim, said the North Central has contributed largely to the success of the party and wondered why the region was left out in the scheme of things.
The groups were armed with various placards including; ‘North Central demands leadership positions’; ‘President-elect be fair and just to Nigerians’; ‘We demand for equity, fairness and justice’; ‘APC NWC do the right thing’; ‘Asiwaju is against imposition’; ‘We say no to imposition of Speaker’; ‘Nigerians are against imposition,’ among others.
His words: “The party has not taken the North Central into consideration and it is outrageous. We the North Central have contributed largely to the development of APC and up till date we are still on it.
“Why is it that the National Assembly Speaker is something that elected president of the Asiwaju under the watch of Abdullahi Adamu, who is even from the North Central will not wholeheartedly said the North Central should take. The party should zone it to us.”
Ibrahim stressed that the region was not asking for much, adding, “we are asking that the speaker of the 10th assembly should be zone to North Central. That is what we want for now. The 10th Assembly speakership should be zone to North Central if they can’t give us the Senate President.”
