The North Central Elders Forum (NCEF) has warned of a repeat of the 2015 rebellion in the ranks of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) federal lawmakers over the zoning of the National Assembly leadership.
NCEF chairman, Muhammadu Ari Gwaska, in company of other leaders of the zone urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC to zone the position of the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives to the North Central.
According to him, APC should imbibe the traditions of party democracy which appropriates the spoils of office when elections are contested and won for the purpose of running an inclusive government and to accommodate divergent interests within the party.
He said the North Central is too strategic to be relegated in the sharing of power equation in the National Assembly and Nigeria as a nation.
He queried the insinuations that the South West is being considered by the APC leadership for the Speaker which he said is unfair to the North Central.
“The North Central deserves the nation’s number four position based on the number of votes it contributed to the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari during the last Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“The NCEF believes in the ability, maturity and the exposure of the deputy House Leader, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, representing Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau state to be the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives to be inaugurated in June 2019,” he said.
He stated that Hon. Wase has the support of the elders of the zone as he has gathered enough legislative experience in the House which will make him to relate very well with the Executive arm of the government headed by President Buhari to move Nigeria forward, give accelerated development to Nigeria and the deserved dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
When asked what the elders would do about the aspiration of Hon. Umar Bago from Niger state who is also aspiring to be the Speaker, the NCEF leader said the elders will reach out to Bago to support the candidature of his elder brother (Idris Wase), saying the zone will settle for nothing except for the position of Speaker and Wase as candidate in the spirit of equity and fair play.
He said, “The North Central has demonstrated its loyalty and strength to the APC both in 2015 and 2019. In 2019, we contributed 2,441,013 votes to President Buhari compared to South West’s votes of 2,036,450.
“To forestall the rebellion act that upset the apple cart in 2015 which produced the Senate President and the Speaker from North Central and North East respectively which never had our backing, the national leadership of the APC must ensure that it does not inflict a sufficient damage on itself, which consequences can be better imagined in the course selection and election of principal officers of the 9th House of Representatives.”
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