Now that Senate Presidency, Deputy have been zoned South South, North West


By Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande

The news that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has agreed that the position of Senate President and Deputy Senate President should go to the South South and North West respectively is highly commendable given the need to accommodate all geopolitical zones in the next administration.

With the President of the incoming administration already in the Southwest and the Vice President, the North east; it is only fair that the remaining four zones that have been agitating for inclusion in the next administration be taken care of and it was kind of the President-elect to factor that in the bid to shape his government.

It has been argued that the South South and the South East did not give the APC presidential ticket overwhelming support during the elections last presidential elections, but due to the fact that both the President-elect and Vice President-elect are of the same faith, it has necessitated the need to tilt consideration in assigning top positions in the next Assembly beyond the level of votes contributed.

Because if that should form the yardstick for zoning, then the Senate President who is the chairman of the National Assembly may again go to the same faith.

But in a multi religious country like Nigeria, there will be the need to include the adherents of the other major religion in the country hence the clamour to zone the seat of the Senate President to a zone that may likely give a religious balance to the next administration.

Painful as that may be considering the contribution of the North Central and North West to the victory of the APC presidential ticket, it is understandable to make such concessions in favour of integration and national cohesion.

It is therefore heartwarming to see giving the report of the meeting between the President-elect and key members of the parliament that the idea is being accepted.

As the North makes that concession however, it is important that it should not be left in the lurch but given the next positions which are the Deputy Senate President and the Speaker which can be shared between the North West and North Central.

Since the Northwest would by May 29, be coming out of an eight-year presidency, it will be fair to ask that it accepts the Deputy Senate President position to allow the North Central which has never held the position of Speaker to take it this time.

The highest position the North Central has occupied since the return of democracy in 1999 has been Senate presidency while the Northwest has had the privilege of producing the President for eight good years and the has held the speaker position for 12 good years.

Again, the North Central contributed more than any of the other zones in the last election in terms of percentage of votes by giving the APC presidential ticket four of the six votes in the zone.

The performance is surely better than that of the North West where the APC lost five of the seven states such as Kaduna, Kebbi, Katsina Kano and Sokoto but won only in Zamfara and Jigawa states.

Allowing the North Central to take the Speaker position will definitely come as a reciprocation for the kind of support it has been giving the APC since the formation of the party.

In 2015, for instance, all the six states in the North Central namely, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Niger all gave overwhelming support to the APC and voted for APC governors.

In 2019, it lost only Benue to the PDP due to the Governor's defection but in gave APC the highest number of votes in the presidential elections.

In terms of totality of votes in the last election, the North Central is also ahead of the Northeast which already has the incoming vice president.

Zoning the Speaker position to the North Central will be a just compensation for a zone that has always supported and is supporting the APC moreso as it has not had the opportunity of having the Speakership since the return of democracy in 1999.

Besides, the zone has the Deputy Speaker position in the outgoing 9th Assembly in the person of Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase.

Wase, having served well as Deputy Speaker, reserves the right to receive the promotion to the next level by taking the speaker slot.

He is tested and trusted Lawmaker who has rich experience in leadership having been chairman of various committee and was deputy minority leader, deputy majority leader ad now now Deputy Speaker.

The party would be setting a good standard for rewarding hard work and commitment if it zones the position to Rt. Hon. Wase as he has always delivered his federal constituency in all elections to the APC by devoting his time and resources to the growth of the party.

APC leaders in the zone would feel highly honoured to have a such a man as Speaker so as to further entrench and deepen the support base of the party in the zone and in the country.

With the contributions the North Central has made to the success of the APC, it is only fair that the zone is allowed not just to take the Speaker position in the 10th Assembly but should zone it to the current Deputy Speaker who has the capacity to provide quality leadership and complement the efforts of the soon to be sworn in president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Ok

Despite the North West giving Tinubu the highest votes among all the regions…

For the purpose of balance, the politically mature SS can have the Senate Presidency. Furthermore, these concessions are strategic.

You reap what you sow.

Fair enuff.
Na where person dey work e suppose chop, that's why dey callam 'workshop'.

This would promote hardwork.
You sow hard, u reap hard.
Shikena!

South East has no position in this government. They should go and meet Nnamdi Kanu

Printerscanner:
South East has no position in this government

tor I know the zones that got the position, will have richer people. Just the way Buhari enriched his nephew tunde and all the notherners Tor

richie240:
Fair enuff.
Na where person dey work e suppose chop, that's why dey callam 'workshop'.

This would promote hardwork.
You sow hard, u reap hard.
Shikena!

BARAU JIBRIN KANO for 10th Senate President .

orion7:
tor I know the zones that got the position, will have richer people. Just the way Buhari enriched his nephew tunde and all the notherners Tor

Lmfao
The number of Northerners that benefited from buhari government are they up to 100,000 ? Infact 20,000

Would have richer people at he expense of who ?


APC would keep failing in government till they understand appointment is not reward in politics ... appointment should be made by competence .... especially in the critical sectors

Highest ask political heavy weight to nominate technocrats but no APC won't hear

Nigeria took everything would took from buhari because he got in on popular mandate

Tinubu didn't get popular mandate he would be scrutinized from day one ...every decision examined

Printerscanner:
South East has no position in this government. They should go and meet Nnamdi Kanu

Absolutely so that when the period of APC failures would be taught in history Igbos would be told as the only people who stood against the evil of APC

Printerscanner:
South East has no position in this government. They should go and meet Nnamdi Kanu

Infact I pray not a single appointment given to them in Jesus name amen.
Our children we continue to grow and see the hate also configure our minds at the earliest stages in life to ignore support from FG. This alone will increase the enrolment of our kids in education.

The politics of the winner takes it all. It has been revealed that Tinubu government will greatly marginalize the Igbos. So, I want Igbos to bear it in mind that the marginalization is for our own good. This marginalization will give us Biafra because it will be obvious to the world and Igbos will capitalize on it to push for Biafra and will get Biafra by the grace of God because God Himself has planned it. The Igbos should expect the worst marginalization from Tinubu and his government will not last before he will be shown the exit door and that is after Biafra has gone You will see more nations agitating to go after Biafra has gone and more nations will succeed and they will go too.

Go and mark this today 1st of May, 2023.

Printerscanner:
South East has no position in this government. They should go and meet Nnamdi Kanu

What will a senate President of South East extraction do differently

I can see some people wailing up there. In politics why you get is determined by what you brought to the table in this case votes.
How do you explain someone like Orji Uzor Kalu that won his senatorial seat with about 40K votes and the president elect scoring less than 10K in the whole state? He even intentionally void his vote for the president.
Compare that with Akpabio that scored 115K and gave the party over 140K votes in a state that has the governor as the Chairman of PDP campaign organization.
It is on record that OUK said if the SE can’t get the ticket it should go back to north and he openly supported Lawan,putting all these into context the SP should go to SS and the Deputy speaker should go to SE.