Allow North Central, South East lead House of Reps, Nabena tells PDP

Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, has appealed to the leadership of the party to ensure even spread in the zoning of National Assembly principal offices in the national interest.

He made this appeal ahead of the official announcement of the APC’s zoning formula for National Assembly principal officers.

According to him, the party should zone the position of speaker of the House of Representatives and deputy speaker to the North Central and South East respectively, while the South South should be allowed to produce the deputy Senate president.

In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, Nabena, said with the President and Vice President coming from the North-West and South-West respectively, other parts of the country should be allowed to produce principal officers of the National Assembly in the interest of equity and fairness.

However, he warned that if the party does not get the sharing of National Assembly principal offices right this time around, the 2023 general elections might turn out to be a free- fall for the ruling party.

He stated that “the APC has elected National Assembly members from all geo-political zones of the country.

Hence, the party’s leadership and indeed, the Presidency must take deliberate efforts to provide a fair and justifiable zoning arrangement for the 9th National Assembly leadership.

“The zoning arrangement must also respect the fact that the North-West and South-West have already produced the President and Vice President respectively.

“So, for equity and adherence to the principle of federal character which is a constitutional requirement, the positions of Senate President, deputy Senate President, speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives in the incoming 9th National Assembly must be occupied by APC members from the remaining four geo-political regions of the country.”

He added that it was evident that theAPC’s National Working Committee (NWC) under the leadership of the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has already zoned the Senate Presidency to the North-East.

He maintained that “the deputy Senate President should be zoned to the South-South while the speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives should be zoned to the North-Central and South-East in any order agreed by the party’s leadership.”

Aware that his position conflicts with the aspiration Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, from the South-West, Nabena reiterated that “the South-West already has a slot filled by the Vice President.

In any case, the South-West does not necessarily translate to Lagos or Ogun state. This is a sentiment widely shared by our members from the zone.

“As I earlier stated, the party’s leadership must take deliberate steps to provide a fair and justifiable zoning arrangement for the incoming 9th National Assembly leadership.

Our actions and inactions will have serious implications on party unity and positively or negatively affect our standing ahead of 2023.”