A former Deputy Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Lawan Maina, has said the the zone deserves to be given the position of the senate president of the 9th National Assembly, as compensation for the devastation visited on it by insurgency and banditry, adding that it is ready to support the candidacy of former Senate Minority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume.
Maina, who is also a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) told journalists Thursday in Abuja, that all the major stakeholders in Borno have resolved to root for Ndume because they consider him as possessing the requisite capacity and temperament to ensure stability and good working relationship between the executive and the legislature.
He dispelled the rumour making the rounds that President Muhammadu Buhari had endorsed the current leader of the senate, Ahmed Lawan, for the position of the senate president, dismissing it as mere speculation.
“The presidency has dismissed that rumour by the statement credited to Mallam Garba Shehu. Although, we are waiting for the party to intervene by categorically zoning the positions, whatever the party decides is what we will do,” he said. “We have come out as a pressure group to present Senator Ndume, who happens to be one of our illustrious sons to the Nigerian public. We are also going to meet with other stakeholders across the country for support because we believe he is the right person for the job.”
On what qualifies the Northeast zone ahead of others, the APC chieftain said the zone recorded the second highest number vote cast for President Muhammadu Buhari in the just concluded elections, adding that Senator Ndume, as a member of the campaign committee, worked assiduously alongside others to give victory for the party in the zone.