North’s governors in push for Senate presidency
By Yusuf Alli, Abuja 15 hours 19 minutes ago
Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font
•Dr Jonathan •Dr Jonathan

Barely three weeks to the convening of the seventh National Assembly, Northern governors and leaders are mounting pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to concede the Senate Presidency to the core North.

Besides, the Northern leaders are pleading for general amnesty for post-election violence suspects.

Some Northern governors and leaders have been in Abuja for five days, holding meetings to push their desire to have the Senate Presidency going to the core North.

One of such meetings was held in Abuja on Wednesday night with some new senators-elect in attendance.

The President, who returned yesterday to Abuja after a retreat in the Obudu Cattle Ranch, got representatives from the governors and leaders on why the Senate presidency should go to the core North, especially the Northeast.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: "These Northern governors and leaders are saying that for the sake of peace and unity of the country, the core North should be allowed to produce the Senate President to heal the wounds which led to the post-election violence.

"They claimed that the pattern of voting during the last presidential election amounted to a return to the era of Northern and Southern protectorates, which may not augur well for the unity of the country.

"The leaders are advocating a reconciliation and reunification of the core North with the rest of the country. There is a sense of loss and betrayal in the far North. Many people in both the Northwest and Northeast are not happy that the President is coming from another zone, despite the agreement by the PDP in 2002 that the North will produce the president in 2007 and 2011.

"The governors are also insisting on general amnesty for all the suspects arrested during the post-election violence as part of the reconciliation.

"They are mounting pressure on Jonathan to prevail on other geopolitical zones to sacrifice for the nation by

conceding the Senate presidency to the core North, with the Northeast as the main beneficiary.

"They alleged that by the power sharing agreement of 2002, the presidency ought to have shifted to the Northeast in 2007 instead of the Northwest, which produced the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

"The feeling in the far North is that if the country could zone the presidency to the Southwest in 1999 to pacify the zone for not allowing the late Chief MKO Abiola to assume office, having won the 1993 presidential election, the far North, should, in like manner, be pacified for losing the presidency to the Southsouth.

"So, the anger of the people of the Northeast borders on the fact that they have been neglected over the years."

A Northern politician and respected figure, who asked not to be named, said: "What we are after is how the grievances of the core North will be assuaged so that we can all come together again. It will be foolish to pretend that all is well between Jonathan and the core North, at present.

"The core North, the Northeast in particular, is not so desperate, but we are just looking at the larger picture of creating a sense of belonging for all geopolitical zones.

"At the end of the day, whatever is the power sharing formula agreed upon by the President and the PDP leadership will be binding.

"We should be ready to sacrifice our ambitions in the larger interest of the nation the way everybody did in 1999 and 2003. No matter what the President might have promised anybody before the elections, the times call for sacrifice in the interest of peace."

Even as the Northeast is pushing for the seat, incumbent David Mark is said to be giving no room for others interested in the job. A source said the President may favour Mark’s retention – in line with what an administration’s top notch called "ongoing seamless working relationship" with the National Assembly.

It was also gathered that Mark’s retention may be in line with a "gentleman’s" agreement he reached with the principal officers of the National Assembly.

A Presidency official said: "For now, the situation is fluid. The President needs a lot of tact to prevent incoming National Assembly members from opposing the party in the election of principal officers of the Assembly."

In the view of a PDP national official, "the President may have influence over some returnee members, but it is doubtful if those elected for the first time will listen to him.

"He also has the opposition parties to contend with. In the current Assembly, opposition parties have no influence, but in the incoming Assembly it will be a different ball game."

The existing structure is as follows: President (Southsouth); Vice-President (Northwest); Senate President (Northcentral); Deputy Senate President (Southeast); Speaker (Southwest); Deputy Speaker (Northeast); SGF (Northeast) and Head of Service (Southwest).

mbulela:

copy cats.
i made the suggestion days back and now they have copied my idea.
grant them amnesty, pay them a monthly allowance and send them on courses in South Africa, Ghana and the UK.
They need to be rehabilitated.
While t it, the northern militant leaders should be hosted to lunch at Aso Rock by the C-in-C.

Hey, be careful what you wish for as you might just get it!!!

You never know with this our new presido, Odechukwu Jonathan- he's full of surprises

namfav:

has anyone even realised that some of the arrested were innocent?

namfav:

it is sad, but you cannot make innocent people pay for it as well, in the long term i don't see how it helps

T9ksy:

And has it occurred to you (yet) that those corpers killed by their so-called countrymen were innocents of any crime, whatsoever?

Those that committed this heinous crime against their fellow countrymen resides within the community- They are not aliens from outer space so they are known within their community. theu should be outed else they are complicit in this barbaric crime.

At any rate, we all know what is going to happen next. They will all be released on some shoddy technicalities. What happened to all those arrested for the Jos crisis? And the ones before that, nko?
Since all the callous and senseless killings in the north, has a single person ever been convicted of any of these crimes?

Hell No!

And you are here losing sleep over some innocents being wrongly-arrested.
I believe you have your priorities, misplaced.

mbulela:

copy cats.
i made the suggestion days back and now they have copied my idea.
grant them amnesty, pay them a monthly allowance and send them on courses in South Africa, Ghana and the UK.
They need to be rehabilitated.
While t it, the northern militant leaders should be hosted to lunch at Aso Rock by the C-in-C.