By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The race for the 10th Senate Presidency took a dangerous dimension yesterday with the South-East senators-elect caucus passing a resolution to reject the zoning of the office to the South-South geopolitical zone.
The senators also alleged that by zoning the Senate Presidency to the South-South, the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was already perfecting arrangements to marginalise the Igbo race.
They warned the president-elect, and the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to avoid any form of injustice on the matter.
They stated this in a communique after a meeting hosted by Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP, Anambra South).
The federal lawmakers-elect noted that since the zone was tactically denied the presidential ticket of any of the two major political parties in the February 2023 general election, the position of the Senate Presidency was supposed to have been given in the interest of Justice and fairness.
Part of the communique read, “We have observed with dismay the antics of persons with vested selfish Interests who have planted themselves around the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and have vowed to shut out the South East from the Senate Presidency of the 10th Senate.
“Beyond ethnic and religious considerations, in the forthcoming 10th Senate, the Southeast has been blessed with ranking senators-elect including members of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
“They have the cranial capacity, competence, influence, experience, and Political followership to pilot the affairs of the Red Chamber, it becomes imperative that the All Progressives Congress upholds the Principle of natural justice and equity which it preaches founded on reasons and zone the seat of Senate President to the South East region.
“That the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should extend the same democratic opportunity he received from the outgoing administration which gave all aspirants equal opportunity to exercise their fundamental and constitutional rights during the APC Presidential Primaries.
“He should be conscious of the grave implications of zoning and endorsing a candidate from the South-South without any regard for the Southeast, such a move will no doubt serve as a recipe for Injustice which will culminate in restiveness.
“We implore the President-elect to be sensitive to the times in Nigeria and ensure the country continues to thrive on the party of equity, unity, and fairness to the tripod of Nigeria (Hausa Igbo Yoruba) and the geopolitical zones.
“The country is already divided amongst ethnic and religious lines due to the exclusion of the Southeast region, which formed the major reason the APC received the number of votes from the South-East.
“The incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu must correct this anomaly by ensuring that the Southeast is allowed to produce the next Senate President.
“With the side-lining of the South-East from producing the Presidential candidates of the major political parties before the general elections, the only means through which the zone can be compensated and given a sense of belonging is for the zone to produce the next Senate President.
“This will restore the confidence of the people from the South-East and South-South geo-political zones and indeed all Nigerians in the unity of the country.
“The APC must rise above primordial and political interest and shun the winner takes-all syndrome and pursue ethno-religious inclusivity and a strong, virile, united, progressive, prosperous, equitable and just democratic nation.
“Mr President-elect, how would an average Igbo man feel after he sees evidence of total discrimination? The South-East has been denied the chance of producing the President of Nigeria since 1966.
“The South-South has produced President for six years and also had a deputy senate president in this outgoing administration. The only zone in the South that has not been favoured is the South-East.
“The outcry of marginalisation by the South-East and the entire Igbo should be addressed by your incoming administration rather than aggravating it.
“The South-West has President, the North-East has Vice President. It is only just that the last position at the moment that can assuage the South-East is given the chance to be the President of the 10th Senate.
“On this note, we have collectively resolved to support South East aspirants of the APC. We remain committed and have since expanded negotiations with other well-meaning Senators-elect to rally around the South East to ensure that justice, fairness, and unity of the country prevails”.
Apart from Senator Ubah, who read the Communique, others present at the meeting were Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh, and Osita Izunaso.
Others were Senators Ezenwa Oyewuchi, Tony Nwoye, PC Ndubueze, Okey Ezea, Kelvin Chukwu and Osita Ngwu.
*68 senators-elect dissociate themselves from Akpabio, Barau aspirations
Also yesterday, senators-elect across party lines numbering about 68, passed a resolution to reject any consensus arrangement that would lead to the imposition of presiding officers on the Senate in the 10th National Assembly which would be inaugurated on June 13.
The senators-elect are from across party lines.
One of them from the North-East, told ThisNigeria in Abuja on conditions of anonymity, that the majority of them had opposed the planned imposition.
He said they had vowed to elect Pan-Nigerian senators as President and Deputy President of the Senate.
He said, “All senators-elect from the North-West zone except two, have thrown their weight behind the planned resistance and pledged to support a leader emerging from amongst themselves. They do not want anybody to be imposed on them.
“Same with the senators-elect from the North-East, except a few self-seeking elected senators.”
Another ranking senator-elect from the zone who does not want his name on print indicated that only five out of the 18 senators-elect are supporting the imposition of Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin.
He said, “Only four out of the 15 senators-elect from the South East, had agreed to the Akpabio/Barau project,” the source added.
A senator-elect from Anambra State confided in our correspondence that the majority of the senators have subscribed to electing a leader on the floor.
The Senator-elect insisted that the next Senate President will emerge without external interference.
He said, “No monetary or executive imposition will determine their choice of a leader and they will do it conscious of the fact that part of such leadership must be from the South-Eastern part of the country.
“In the North-Central, the plot also thickens as many of the senators-elect are reacting to the short-changing the imposition will do to the zone, as both the Speaker and Deputy Senate President position have been taken away and proposed to another zone.
“The action will completely distort the equitable distribution of leadership positions across the six geopolitical zones. On their part, the South-South region senators-elect are divided sharply as to who emerged.
“Senators-elect from Akwa Ibom have indicated their solidarity to the group against imposing leadership of the red chamber and have pledged their support to the emergence of an independent leadership of the Senate.”
Indications from the senators-elect are showing that only about six of the zone’s 18 senators-elect will accept to go the Akpabio/Barau way.
Meanwhile, as it stands today, ThisNigeria gathered that only the South-West seems to be compact with the majority for the Akpabio/Barau project.
As it stands according to further findings, six of the senators-elect preferred choosing freely their leaders as against preferred candidates.
Another aggrieved Senator from the North-East said, “From the foregoing, the direction the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress and the president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu are going on the issue of the 10th Assembly leadership is crystal clear.
“They are bent on imposing leadership on the red and green chambers which are going to be very detrimental to the smooth take-off of the 10th Assembly.
“Many of the senators-elect that have signed an endorsement document for Akpabio/Barau said they did it because of the largesse attached to it.
“They have confided in some of us that the endorsement they signed, is not binding. The majority have denounced the imposition and have vowed to cast their votes independently according to their conscience and not on anyone imposing anybody to them.
“The senators-elect have all agreed to shelve their party affiliation and work in the spirit of equity, justice, and fairness in an undiluted manner in electing the right leadership for the 10th Assembly.”
According to one of the ranking returning senator-elect from the North-West, Tinubu does not necessarily need to balance his same-faith presidential ticket with the principal officers’ positions in the National Assembly.
He said, “Legislative sovereignty as enshrined in our constitution must not be hindered by unnecessary interference.
“The principle of separation of powers should guide us as it holds that the legislative body will elect or choose its leaders from among themselves, hence external interference in any form especially imposition must be resisted.”
A returning senator-elect from the South-West also said, “An independent legislature has long been endorsed as one of the three pillars of good government, hence the President-elect must toe the line of democratic ethics and be ready to work with any leadership that emerges as a democrat.”
Notwithstanding the reported endorsement of Akpabio by Tinubu, Senator-Elect Abdulaziz Yari has told stakeholders that he would take the battle to the Senate floor.
*ACF cries out over alleged endorsement of principal officers
Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has dissociated itself from the endorsement of Godswill Akpabio for Senate Presidency by the Coalition of Northern groups.
Musa Saidu, a member of the ACF, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Saidu, also the leader of the Arewa Community in Southern Nigeria, said endorsing Akpabio for the Senate Presidency would spell doom for Northern Nigeria.
“We hereby dissociate ourselves from the endorsement of Sen. Godswill Akpabio for the Senate Presidency by a coalition of Northern groups.
“The Coalition is not speaking for the North, it is just speaking for itself. No true Northern group will want to endorse Akpabio for a sensitive position like that of Senate President because he is not friendly with the North.
“We are the people who know Akpabio because we are residents in the South, we know those who are friendly with the Northern people and Akpabio is not one of them,” he said.
Saidu said that the coalition must have made the endorsement out of ignorance.
“I want to condemn the endorsement in its entity because it was done out of ignorance. It is also possible that the groups were given some inducement to endorse Akpabio.
“I want to say that the Northern people are not beggars that will be endorsing people who are not friendly with them because of inducement,” he said.
Saidu said the ACF would continue to fight or speak against injustice in the country.
“Why should the All Progressives Congress (APC) be bent on zoning the 10th Senate Presidency to the South, when we have competent hands in the North?
“The North-West gave the APC the largest votes in the Feb. 25 presidential election, so why not consider somebody from the zone?
“I think it’s time for the party to reward the zone for the massive votes rather than start looking for somebody from the South as Senate President,” he said.
