The Coalition for Spread and Balance Representation on the Need for Fairness, Justice and Equitable Zoning of National Assembly Positions has warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to resist the move by stakeholders to exclude the North Central from the ongoing zoning of leadership positions in the National Assembly.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday, Hon. Dauda Adamu, called on the party to also call the lawmakers to order before the ongoing scramble for leadership position will cause more harm than good to the party and the incoming administration.
Adamu said APC should learn from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which they said lost the last election because because it failed to respect its zoning arrangement and cede power to the Southern part of the country.
The coalition said they have observe “with disdain the leadership tussle among the lawmakers-elect within the All Progressives Congress as the ruling political party and we call for caution and urge the leadership of our great party to wade in early on the leadership tussle before it snowballs into something more unbearable. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
“It is pertinent to note that the recent developments on the purported zoning of the National Assembly leadership positions to certain regions of the country with the exclusion of the North Central in the power sharing has sent a bad signal to lawmakers elected from the region despite their commitment and loyalty to the party since 2015.
“It should be noted that North Central as a region continues to deliver electoral victory to the ruling APC since 2015, till date, despite the marginalization suffered by the region in the past.”
They said the North Central is a politically filled with competent and experienced lawmakers that have over the years demonstrated the right leadership skills, adding that “what the country need is unity, purposive leadership, fairness and equitable distribution of leadership positions shared across all region in the spirit of national cohesion and balance. And North Central cannot be neglected.
“It is on this premise that we call on the leadership of our great party to avoid the pitfalls of the calamity that befell the major opposition party in the just concluded election on the account of the decision by its leadership to jettison zoning and the popular call for power to return to the South.”
The coalition also urged the party to leverage on the gains, successes and the good fortune that the North Central region has brought to the APC and reward the region and its people with the Deputy Senate position to bring about equity and robust representation in the 10th Senate.
Adamu also said that the President elect who is a product zoning should make sure that all the regions are carried along in the distribution of leadership positions in the National Assembly.
