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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Ahead of the composition of the 10th Senate, a political pressure group under the auspices of The Equality Movement (TEM) has called on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to zone the Senate Presidency to the South East.
Leader of the Movement, Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf Ajiji, and Publicity Secretary, Garba Noma, who made the call in a statement in Kaduna, appealed to the president-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, to back the South East region to produce the next Senate president in the interest of inclusiveness and fairness.
“The APC has had an impressive performance in the South East in the 2023 Senatorial elections producing six Senators so far as announced by INEC. This is a far cry from what was obtained in 2019.
“We support the resolve of the South East not to remain in the periphery of national politics in the APC but to join hands with other geo-political zones to build and develop our nation.
“To ensure fairness and also to carry all the geo-political zones along in governance, we appeal to the National Working Committee of the APC to zone the Senate Presidency to the South East where they have quite a number of senators-elect including a ranking Senator in the person of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who is currently the Chief Whip of the Senate.”
He said the South East did not have a fair share under the APC in the last four years where the zone was conspicuously missing in the first top five positions in the country’s political hierarchy.
“We used to remember the tripod of Nigeria’s politics that is the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. At any point in time in order to ensure the balance of power, the “big three” are adequately represented in the top echelon of political power. A situation where one of the “big three” is missing will create imbalance in the political equation.
“In the last four years or thereabouts, the North West produced the president while the South West took both the vice presidency and the speakership of the House of Representatives while the South South got the Deputy Senate President and the North Central produced the deputy speaker.
“It’s understandable at that time that the South East was not adequately represented in the APC in terms of elective positions but the current political leaders in the zone have reversed the trend in favour of the APC,” the statement added.
Leader of the movement said Tinubu, who is known for his fairness would not allow the imbalance to subsist.
He called on all political actors in the South East to close ranks and demand a better deal under the incoming political dispensation, while assuring that the other geopolitical zones especially in the North will stand in solidarity with the South East.
