From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Zonal stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the umbrella of Concerned North Central APC Stakeholders Forum have rejected the party’s zoning arrangement for the 10th National Assembly, insisting on the zone getting the Speakership.
The stakeholders warned the party’s national leadership against insisting on the zoning arrangement earlier released, cautioning that the ruling party risks losing the ticket to the opposition parties should they go ahead with the arrangement.
Speaking at the press conference in Abuja, convener, Rev Dominic Alancha, threatened that North Central will withdraw their support for the ruling party in the 2027 general election if the party goes ahead with the micro-zoning arrangement.
“For an election that was concluded since February 25, ordinarily, the decision to zone National Assembly leadership positions should not have taken this long if due process, respect for order and egalitarian principles have been followed.
“I say this because it is the inexplicable and bias decision of the APC to ignore this sound and time tested process by going to introduce strange and obtuse arrangements where a whole geopolitical zone was sidelined while another was given two key positions in the National Assembly hierarchy that has led to this quagmire,” the stakeholders noted.
“Zoning the position of Senate President in the 10th Assembly to the South-South geopolitical zone, and the position of Deputy Senate President to the North-West zone; while the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is also zoned to the North-West and the position of Deputy Speaker to the South East is unacceptable because it excluded the North Central from parliamentary leadership.
“We note the observation that the national chairman of our great party is from the North Central zone and with the appointment of George Akume as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), that the North Central has been compensated,” he argued.
Alancha added: “The agitation today was because of the total exclusion of North Central. It is an aberration
and unacceptable. If our people feel short-changed, do you think they will support the party in 2027? It is unfortunate that our governors are nowhere to speak, the region is looking up to them. We are telling them the feelings of our people.”
Speaking further, the stakeholders cautioned that: “it will not be in the best interest of our party for the opposition to snatch the position because of our inability of the party to present an acceptable consensus candidate.”