Imposition of National Assembly Leaders unacceptable, Group tells APC

A civic organisation, the Citizens Advocacy Group, has rejected what it described as imposition of National Assembly leaders by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

in a statement by its convener, Chris Sunday George, and Secretary, Haruna Kabir, the advocacy group said it is offensive to attempt to choose leaders for lawmakers.

The group said, “The decision by the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to impose a candidate on the Senate as the President of the next Upper Legislative Arm of the National Assembly has been generating an uproar in the polity.

“A document issued after the NWC meeting in Abuja, showed that the Senate President would come from the South-South and specifically, Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom). Others are “Deputy Senate President: North -West-Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano); Speaker, House of Representatives: North -West- Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna); and Deputy Speaker: South East- Ben Kalu (Abia).”

“What the party has done is an autocratic imposition which has no place in a democracy as it poses serious danger to independent legislature and an attack on the principle of separation of power.

“We in the Citizens Advocacy Group believe the concerned Senators-Elect should be allowed to make their choice based on the experience, competence and the qualification of each aspirant.

“If you are zoning it to a particular zone of the country, you cannot say this is the person that should be the Senate President from that zone when you have other candidates from the same zone who have expressed interest in the position.

“We believe the race should be thrown open for all the candidates who have expressed interest from the zone to test their strength and popularity in a free and fair contest and anything short of that would not augur well for the smooth take-off of the 10th Assembly.

“At this point in time when Nigeria is faced with multitude of challenges, we cannot afford to inaugurate a new government and the National Assembly on a shaky and controversial note and we can avoid this by not giving room for imposition as the APC leadership has done.

“We reiterate that the decision of the party is not democratic. It is not well thought-out. It is highly offensive and a decision that must not be allowed to stand for the sake of equity and fair play.”