9TH ASSEMBLY: More Groups Clamour For Speakership Position
Two other groups have urged the All Progressives Congress to zone the position of the speaker to their respective zones in the 9th Assembly.
One of them, the APC South East Renaissance Group (ASERG) which made this known during a press briefing on Thursday in Abuja said the South-east deserves the position.
The other, the North Central Progressive Forum (NCPF), wants the position zoned to the North-central region.
The South-east group said the region has long been excluded and “all it needs is to be included as the politics of exclusion has not yielded much political dividend”.
“But many years down the line, the South-east and indeed the former eastern region comprising the lgbo, ltsekiri, lbibio, Tiv, Idoma, Jukun and many others are still faced with rejection, denials, deprivations and exclusion, of political and socio-economic ramifications,” it said.
“The politics of exclusion did not yield much political dividends for our party in the South-East,” it added.
The convener, Chris-lance Oyemechere, said it is not fair for the region which produced Vice President to produce speaker again.
Ahead of the 9th assembly inauguration in June, the APC had endorsed Femi Gbajiabiamila for house speakership and Ahmed Lawan for senate president.
Despite the party’s endorsement, the fourth term Lagos lawmaker, Mr Gbajabiamila, is contesting this position with eight other lawmakers.
The lawmakers are: house spokesperson Abdulrazak Namdas (APC Adamawa), Mukhtar Aliyu Betara (APC Borno), Idris Wase (APC Plateau), Umar Bago (APC Niger), Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (APC Abia), John Okafor (APC Imo), Babangida Ibrahim (APC Katsina), and Mohammed Kazaure (APC Jigawa).
Meanwhile, the North-central has also been clamouring for its region to be represented at the top level.
The NCPF at a press briefing on Wednesday, ‘presented’ Mohammed Umaru Bago as its speakership candidate for the region.
Jointly addressing the press in Abuja, the National Coordinator, Godwin Meliga and National Secretary, Abbah Emmanuel, asked President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC chairman, and members of the 9th assembly to support the member.
Mr Meliga said, “We have borne it upon ourselves to express to the whole world the political injustice that has been meted out against the people of this zone, even in the ongoing political calculations and scheming happening in the ranks and file of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“It requires no further political clarification to assert that the North-central Nigeria occupies a sensitive place in not only the geographical division of the country but also a critical political status, comprising the following states, Kogi, Kwara, Benue, Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory.
“This logically places the zone on the same number of states as the North-west zone, at seven states, with the inclusion of the Federal Capital Territory.
“It will, therefore, not anything close to being a misnomer or economical with the truth, if one could affirm that the zone rightly deserves a special political status and consideration, in major national political discourse and decisions,” he said.
He urged the party to look towards the zone in choosing the next speaker.
“Mr. President, as a man who profess and uphold high integrity, should prove once more his unbroken commitment to the common benefit of all Nigerians, by recognising that it will be least unfair and politically incalculable, to say the least, that a North-central zone that produced the third highest votes for the President’s reelection, with almost 2.5 million votes, winning an additional state for the APC, will again be denied the right of producing the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives,” he said.
Religious bodies recently joined the discourse on who emerges as leaders of the two chambers with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) seeking religious balance in the appointments in the 9th National Assembly.
However, CAN has been criticised by its Muslim counterpart- the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) for making this call asserting that the election and appointments of principal officers in the national assembly have always favoured Christians to the detriment of Muslims.
In a statement by Salisu Shehu, its deputy secretary-general, the NSCIA queried: “Is CAN suffering from selective amnesia or is it just obsessed with chronic mendacity? Was there no CAN between 2009 and 2011 when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Justice Aloyious Katsina-Alu was the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Senator David A. B. Mark was President of the Senate and Senator Ike Ekweremadu was Deputy Senate President? Was there religious balance in 2007 when David Mark was elected Senate President and Patricia Etteh was elected Speaker? Was there no 1999 Constitution at that time?