Zone House speaker to N’Central, ex-APC Reps demand

Tom Okpe, Abuja

Former members of the House of Representatives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Forum have advised the leadership of the ruling party to zone the position of Speaker of the House to the North Central geo-political zone.

The forum made this known on Friday in press conference attended by its Interim Chairman, Adeh Lumumba, Idris Yahuza Yakubu, Hon. Peter Biye Gumtha, Hassan Tonga, and Bello Shugaba in Abuja.

Yakubu in his address to journalists on behalf of the forum, said that the APC could not afford to make the same mistake again by leaving the choice of those to assume leadership positions in the National Assembly to chance.

He explained reasons why the party needed to act tactfully over the leadership of the 9th Assembly, pointing that the party must step forward to provide political direction to its elected members at the National Assembly by zoning all the leadership positions to a specific zone and where possible, states.

The forum further asserted that since the senate presidency had been zoned to the north east, the party should consider same action in respect of all other leadership positions, especially the presiding officers of the two chambers.

“Our considered opinion is that the Deputy Senate presidency be zoned to the South East or South South, the speaker to the North Central and the Deputy Speakership to the South South or South West.

“This zoning, we believe will douse the unnecessary tension being generated in the bid by individual members from the different geo-political divides of the country to aspire to those positions and avoid further digging of trenches which the party cannot afford to get along with at this stage.

“It is time the party takes a decision on this to make its stand known to the members of the party on time so as to prevent a repeat of the 2015 scenario where it was unable to stop vested interests who had gone too far in their campaigns by the time the party decided to step in.

“If the varied interests are not streamlined on time and individuals are allowed to take hard line positions it will be difficult for the party to make them reverse without causing further frictions”, the Forum said.

Recall that in 2015, the APC made the mistake of not paying enough attention in the election of the leadership of the National Assembly and the party nearly paid dearly for it by having to constantly battle with a hostile legislature since its leaders were not products of the party’s internal democratic arrangement.

“As a way of guiding the party to toe the line of equity and fairness, we suggest consideration be given to cognate experience, party loyalty and acceptability among colleagues.

But most importantly, consideration should be given to zones where the party performed well and where it is strategically important for the growth of the party.

“In taking a decision, the party must also take note that the Northwest and the Southwest already have the president and the vice president respectively and they need to give the other zones a sense of belonging to deepen its faith and commitment to the party.

“Members-elect must be ready to see the intervention of the party as necessary whether it agrees with their aspirations or not because at the end of the day it is the party platform that matters.

“Major stakeholders in the party should also be prepared to guide their people on the principle of party supremacy and on the fine points about internal party democracy.

This way, the APC would succeed in laying the foundation for a better Nigeria through the instrument of a well-structured party that has the interest of its people at heart”, it added.