The Northwest Progressives Forum (NPF) has cautioned president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to beware of politicians seeking to take advantage of the party’s electoral victory to divert the senate president slot to undeserving geopolitical zones.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, the group group’s coordinator, Nasir Dambatta, said they were concerned about the ongoing regional struggle for the position of senate president since the conclusion of this year’s presidential election and the emergence of Tinubu as president-elect.
Dambatta said they were aware of the several moves and counter-moves by regional political actors seeking to place their respective zones at advantage where it is not deserved.
According to him, official presidential election result figures showed that the North West produced the highest number of votes for Tinubu which makes it the natural and legitimate claimant to the number three seat.
“While we do not expect the president-elect Tinubu and the APC to give to any zone, not least the North-West what it does not deserve, we however feel it would only be fair to reward the people that toiled for and earned it.
“The rule of fairness, justice and ordinary decency demands in this circumstance, the North-West and not any other zone deserves to be rewarded for its commitment to the APC and the Asiwaju ideals which it amply proved at the polls.
“We therefore join the call for the APC and the president-elect to act justly and fairly by zoning the position of the senate president to the region that gave him more than 30 percent of his winning votes,” Dambatta said.
The group called attention to the standard northern tradition of never compromising national unity whenever given the opportunity.
“It is also on record that the North has been tested and trusted with power, making the region eminently eligible for the senate presidency to stabilise and balance power,” he said.
The North-West, according to the group, also has the record of giving the APC ticket the most votes which positions the region as the natural and legitimate claimant to the senate presidency.
