From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Youths in the All Progressives Congress, (APC), on the aegis of APC Youth Alliance for Progress ( APC-YAP) has charged the party and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to review the zoning formula for presiding officers of the 10th assembly.
The youth group, in a statement by
Isa Pai and Wahab Adeyemi noted that the zoning arrangement, particularly as it concerns the House of Representatives, is illogical as it tends towards exclusion.
Consequently, it charged the APC leadership and Tinubu to heed the counsel of the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu and other stakeholders, who have kicked against it, by jettisoning the zoning formula.
Recall that Akeredolu had, in a statement, described the zoning formula as ‘a skewed arrangement that reinforces injustice and enhances inequity,”stating that it “represents early signs of steps aimed at attempts to cabin the hard-earned presidency for our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by a few individuals with eyes on Aso Rock power buttons.”
According to the governor, “it is an insidious permutation that North-east will be deprived in the face of the unsavoury generosity dispensed through two slots to a particular geo-political zone. It is self-repudiating for one to argue, therefore, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives cannot also emerge from the North-east.”
The APC-YAP argued that ignoring well-meaning advice of prominent stakeholders like the Ondo governor, was recipe for a fractured National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives.
It wondered why the APC that allowed an open field in the presidential primaries will now micro zone offices for the National Assembly as if it was a department of the party.
The youth group further noted that zoning formula released last week, “stands logic on the head for the party to reward indolence and perpetrate injustice at a time for inclusion and national healing.
“It is urgent for the party to discard the notion of handpicking officers for the 10th House of Reps. Nigerians are already wary of the party and not attempt should be made to reinforce the idea that the party does not care about party development and democracy.”