- Says party must avoid repeat of 2015 “coup” in the Senate
From John Adams, Minna
As intrigue and power play over the leadership of the 10th National Assembly gathers momentum ahead of its inauguration on June 10th, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in Niger State, Hon Jonathan Vatsa, has cautioned the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party against any attempt to impose the leadership of the 10th National Assembly on the people.
Vatsa said the current zoning formula as announced by the National Working Committee of the party cannot stand because it was not done base on equity, justice and fair play, warning the party might be heading for a repeat of 2015 where the opposition parties installed a Senate President through the emergence of Bukola Saraki.
The former publicity secretary of the party who spoke in Minna on Thursday while reacting to the ongoing controversy over the zoning formula adopted by the party National Leadership pointed out that APC as a party lost its bearing in 2015 after the “power that is” failed in their attempt to impose leadership on the National Assembly which according to him formed part of the reasons why President Buhari failed woefully.
“We must get right this time around because the country seriously needs purposeful leadership that will take us out of this misery, poverty and high-level insecurity. It has never been so bad since independence but hope is not entirely lost because we now have a President-elect who is both human and resources manager with track records of achievements.”
While throwing his weight behind Governor Akeredolu’s submission of unfair and biased zoning formula which completely relegated the North Central and South East geo-political zones to the background and inconsequential, the party stalwart warned that the North Central in particular will not fold its hands and allow the current zoning to stand unchallenged.
“The North Central does not deserve the kind of treatment is being suggested because we have made enormous contributions to the success of the party and therefore deserved to be rewarded with the position of Deputy Senate President.”
According to Vatsa, while he acknowledged the fact that no zone of the country is more important than the other, the North Central geo-political zone has made enough contributions to the success of the party at every election since 2015, “but we have always been relegated to the background when it comes to sharing formula until Saraki took it by force in 2015.”
In his submission, Vatsa suggested that South East and North Central must be allowed to produce the Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively in the interest of Equity, Justices and Fairness, stressing that “we must not allow personal interest and cash and carry syndrome to becloud our sense of judgment.”
He expressed worries that those who corruptly held the country to ransom before the emergence of APC in 2015 are now the ones holding the party to ransom because of Buhari’s slogan of “join us and have your sins forgiven,” adding that “we cannot continue to openly reinforce corruption by bringing people with questionable character to take a leadership position in the party, especially the Senate Presidency.
“My last check on my corruption index shows that APC is almost overtaking PDP, and this is not surprising because all the people holding sensitive positions or aspiring for one today are all PDP defectors to APC whom we welcome through red carpet reception. These are people who joined APC because they wanted their sins forgiven.
“They have all grown winds and want to take over everywhere; they are now more powerful than the founding fathers of the party. They occupied juicy positions and get juicy appointments for their friends and families members while the founding members watched from a distance, a situation of Tenant asking the landlord to quit the house,” he added.