The Forum of Former Members of the House of Representatives from the North Central Zone has kicked against media reports that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), have zoned the Speakership seat of the 10th House of Representatives to the North West geopolitical zone.
Rising from its extraordinary emergency meeting in Abuja, the Forum stated that if the the media reports about the said zoning decisions were true, then the President-Elect would have allowed himself to be misled by those they described as “selfish” individuals within the party.
The group of former lawmakers who issued a 7-point demand in their communique read by Hon. Idris Yakubu, a member of the 4th Assembly after the meeting lamented that the North Central zone was being unfairly treated by the party despite having kept faith with it since 2015.
In the document titled: ‘Need for Justice and Equity in Allocating Key Offices In the National Assembly’, the former legislators said: “We wish to state without equivocation, that the issue we are addressing here has been carefully considered and treated with all sense of responsibility, while the position we have taken on the matter is in the best interest of the incoming administration of H.E Sen Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and for the greater good of our dear country, Nigeria.”
“Having served as federal legislators at various times and contributed immensely to the development of Nigeria and its democracy, we consider it pertinent to continue on the path of offering wise counsels and to intervene whenever we see that the ship of our country appears to be going adrift.
“As responsible citizens we cannot fold our arms and watch when a major decision capable of fundamentally affecting our dear nation negatively and setting it on the path towards increased suspicion and bitter acrimony is being contemplated,” the communique read.
“After waiting several weeks for the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other key stakeholders to guide the present crop of elected federal legislators on the zoning of leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly in order to avoid acrimony and rancor, the forum notes that the principles of equity, justice and fairness which should have guided such processes may not have been explored.
“Rather than dwell on a template to promote unity and fairness for national cohesion, the forum observed that what is emerging is an odious stench of bias and lopsidedness that should not even be contemplated in a democracy,” the Forum said.
They therefore demanded that while the position of the Senate President can be given to the South for religious balancing and the North-west the Deputy Senate President, that the North Central must be given its due share in the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
“We ask that since the North Central gave the President-elect the highest percentage number of votes apart from the South-west, that it should be given the Speakership of the 10th Assembly.
“This would come as the fair and just thing to do since the zone has never occupied the seat of Speaker since the return of democracy in 1999 while the Northwest has held it for 12 good years!
“We know that the President-elect having fought for the return of democracy to Nigeria and had served as a senator and state governor is a thorough democrat, hence it behoves on him to take steps that will preserve and deepen our democracy by ensuring inclusiveness in his administration.
“The North Central can boast of an array of experienced and ranking members who when given the opportunity, can preside excellently over the House of Representatives and ensure quality legislation for the good governance of Nigeria.
The Forum urged the President-elect not to go according to the plan by a few selfish individuals to patronize their cronies but to administer justice and equity to all so that his administration can start on a sound footing.
“We also call on our party elders from the zone including the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; governors; former national chairmen, former governors; former Senate President; ministers, former ministers and other stakeholders to add their voices to the demand for justice to the zone as their continuous silence will only aggravate the intended marginalization of the North Central zone.
N.O
