President Tinubu’s meeting with lawmakers fails to resolve zoning controversies
Written by Joey Shekwonuzhibo on June 9, 2023
President Bola Tinubu’s meetings with lawmakers-elect, has failed to resolve the crisis rocking the ruling the All Progressives Congress APC, over zoning arrangement.
The APC National Working Committee had micro-zoned the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President seats to Senator Godswill Akpabio from South-South and Senator Jibrin Barau from North-West, respectively. However, other aspirants like Senators Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara West, Osita Izunaso of Imo West and Orji Kalu of Abia North have insisted that they would not step down for the party’s consensus candidate. In the House or Representatives, the APC leadership had also endorsed the member-elect representing Kaduna North-West, Tajudeen Abbas, as speakership candidate, while the member-elect from Abia South-East, Benjamin Kalu, clinched the Deputy Speaker slot. Aspirants, who were among the lawmakers who held a meeting with the President at the Aso Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday night, are however, still lobbying their colleagues and strategizing to upturn the APC’s zoning arrangement for the NASSS principal positions.
Relatedly, former lawmaker, who represented Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, has warned the All Progressives Congress APC, to put its house in order on the choice of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly or risk the repeat of 2015 scenario.
The APC saw its nominated candidates lose out during the election of the leadership of the 8th National Assembly in 2015 when Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as Senate President and Speaker respectively in defiance of the APC choices.
Speaking in an interview, Sani said if proper consultations are not done by the party and President Bola Tinubu, the 2015 scenario is bound reoccur.
According to the former lawmaker, lack of proper consultations was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s problem which contributed to Saraki’s emergence in 2015 instead of Senator Ahmad Lawan, the preferred candidate of the President.
