Adedayo Akinwale
Ahead of the June 13th inauguration of the National Assembly, protesters under the auspices of Forum of All Progressives Congress (APC) Support Groups Tuesday stormed the national secretariat of the party, demanding the review of 19th National Assembly zoning arrangement.
The National Publicity Secretary of the group, Adamu Isaiah, while addressing journalists, described as worrisome the fact that the party in ‘error’ went ahead to micro zone the positions to specific persons.
He added that the party must respect the principle and spirit of the letters of the legacy parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and the New Peoples Democratic Party (n-PDP).
Isiah noted that at every level of governance in APC since 2015, all others above except APGA faction have taken prominent positions as president, vice-president, Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives, National Chairmen of the party and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
He stressed that there was an urgent need to correct this lop-sidedness and imbalance, as he therefore condemned and totally rejected the so-called zoning formula released recently by the party.
Isaiah stated: “This, we consider, is not in the spirit of party inclusivity. We suggest that the party consults widely among the stakeholders and especially the National Executive Committee (NEC) to be able to do this in the spirit of fairness, goodwill, equity and justice.
“The party at this point in time should be seen to be in the forefront and vanguard of promoting ideals that unite Nigerians irrespective of party affiliation, tribal lining and social stratification rather than emphasizing policies that divide, such as the current purported zoning and micro zoning by the party that throws up an individual for the Senate Presidency.”
Isiah pointed out that a handful of those currently vying for the position of the Senate President of the 10th National Assembly came into APC only in the later days of its second term in office.
“They have not equally played any major roles in the party except to come and take over positions like nomadic politicians who come in only when food is ready. This too is not fair to those who laboured and built the party from inception to its enviable height,” he added.
The protesters said the South-east has produced two APC governors and six APC senators-elect, adding that while the South-south being ‘erroneously” favoured today for the office of Senate President has had president, vice-president, two national chairmen, national secretary, Deputy Senate President and SGF.
The protesters, therefore, called the senators-elect to prioritize peace, unity, fairness, justice, equity and equality that will guarantee harmonious co-existence of Nigeria from all walks of lives by doing what is right on the floor of the red chambers on 13th of June, 2023.
