Apparently unsettled by the growing protests by aggrieved aspirants to the 10th National Assembly presiding offices, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has agreed to revisit the zoning of the four presiding offices.
Bowing to pressure, national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, assured aspirants for the Senate presidency, who stormed the party’s national secretariat in protest on Thursday, that the party will go back to the drawing board with a view to reviewing the zoning formula.
Adamu admitted that the zoning list was flawed because it was drafted without adequate consultations.
The aspirants, who said one of them, Senator-elect Osita Izunaso from Imo State, was unavoidably absent, came barely 24 hours after some speakership aspirants also stormed the national secretariat in protest on Wednesday over the choice of the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The aggrieved Senate president aspirants, who met with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), threatened to disobey the party’s directive on the current zoning arrangement if it is not reconsidered.
They are former Zamfara State governor and Senator-elect, Abdulaziz Yari; former governor of Abia State and Senate chief whip, Orji Uzor-Kalu; Senator Sani Musa, Senator Sadiq Umar, and their colleagues, who joined them in solidarity.
The speakership aspirants referred to as the G7 had equally taken their grievances to the NWC on Wednesday, saying the party’s leadership should be prepared for a repeat of what happened in 2015 when those endorsed by the party could not emerge as presiding officers of the National Assembly.
APC had on Monday officially announced the endorsement of former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio as president of the Senate, and Senator Barau Jubrin, Kano North Senatorial District (North West) as deputy Senate president.
The party also named Tajudeen Abbas from Kaduna State (North West) as the next Speaker of the House and Benjamin Kalu from Abia State (South East) as deputy Speaker.
Speaking at a meeting with the party’s NWC, the Senate president aspirants who submitted a protest letter jointly signed by them, asked the party leadership to correct the mistake on the zoning formula or face the consequences.
Responding to submissions by Senators-elect Yari, Kalu and Musa, the national chairman of APC Adamu took responsibility for the zoning list of the party, saying it was drafted without adequate consultations.
He pleaded with the aspirants to cease fire and wait for the final outcome of another meeting when the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, returns to the country, assuring that this time around consultations would be enlarged.
Adamu said, “As chairman of the APC, I take responsibility for what has gone on air. I take absolute responsibility for that. Yes, there was no sufficient or adequate consultations with you who are contesting and it is simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions. But the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire.
“We will go back to the drawing board. We owe our party that duty to take a look whether what was done can not be changed; what was done needs some changes or reviews.
“Hold the fire until the last word is heard from us. We are the custodians of the party as NWC but we are not acting alone. The voice of the president-elect is an essential voice. We must accommodate him, the best we can. I will not compromise on that.
“So, he is right now outside the country and by the grace of God when he comes back we will go back to the drawing board and put ours heads together again and see what we will get.
“I cannot preempt that. I will wait until we hold that meeting with Mr president-elect, the same team that we had the same meeting with. If we need to enlarge the committee we will do so we will better informed through contributions that we will be made,” he ssid.
Adamu also said the agitation of the North-Central geopolitical zone for reward having voted massively for the party was genuine and would be looked into.
Noting that votes are very important in a partisan democracy, the APC national chairman said: “On the issue of the north-central, I remain tongue tied talking about north-central. Your argument is extremely plausible. I assure you, we will take a look at it along what has been given to the public.
“I don’t want to believe that vote is not essential thing. Vote remains the essential thing in every democracy because vote is the opinion of the populace.”
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