Deprive Us Speakership At Your Own Peril, APC N’Central Group Tells Asiwaju Drumps support for Wase , Insists Zone Did More For Party’s Electoral Victory

By Iyojo Ameh
Abuja

As the rumoured zoning of the National Leadership positions, particularly the Speakership seat of the incoming 10th House of Representatives continue to generate reactions, a group of APC stakeholders from the North Central geopolitical zone has warned the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be fair and just to the zone if he wants his administration to succeed.

At a news briefing to voice out their disappointment at the purported decision of the APC NWC regarding the speakership seat which is said to have been zoned to the North West, the group said if the media reports about the decision were anything to go by, then the party would have shown disdain and ingratitude to the zone, which they said did more than any other zone in the North to improve its electoral fortune at the just concluded polls.

Presenting the group’s position before newsmen in Abuja, the Convener, Rev. Dominic Alancha argued that the same principle of equity, justice and fairness which compelled the Northern Governors Forum to insist on taking the presidency to the South thereby paving way for the emergence of Asiwaju as candidate and now President-elect, should also apply to the North Central in the zoning consideration since it has never produced a speaker before.

The text reads: “Having won the 2023 presidential elections fair and square, we had expected the Leadership of APC to be guided by the principle of justice and fairness in zoning leadership positions in the parliament and had thought that factors like commitment to the success of the party, level of contributions and the need for fairness, Equity and justice to all would guide the decision.

“What we have seen emerging from the decision of the APC however, is a situation of total disregard to Justice Equity and fairness where personal interests has been put forward thereby bringing chaos and conflict in a situation that would have otherwise gone smoothly if national interest has been the guiding principle,” the group said.

It stressed that compared to other zone in the region, the North Central comes tops in terms of votes for the party and number of seats won in the parliament.

“In the last elections, the North Central apart from giving the APC presidential ticket an overwhelming number of votes, gave a greater number of parliamentary and governorship seats to the APC.

“The APC won in Kwara, Niger, Benue and Kogi in the presidential elections and in the governorship elections, the North-central with six states gave the APC the four states of Benue, Niger, Nasarawa and Kwara, while that of Kogi which is still in the hands of the APC is pending meaning it lost only one state to the opposition parties.

“In the parliamentary elections the APC clinched majority seats in Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Nasarawa states and Benue where it won two out of the three senatorial seats and 10 of
the 11 House of Representatives seats leaving the PDP with only one seat each in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

“Compare this with the North West where the APC failed to secure the key states in the Northwest like Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, Kebbi and Sokoto in the presidential elections which usually bring the deciding votes winning only Zamfara and Jigawa of the seven states in the zone.

“The picture is even worse with the parliamentary elections where the APC lost majority seats in Kano with the NNPP clearing 18 out of the 24 House of Representatives seats in the state while in Kaduna, the APC lost all the three senatorial and 11 seats out of the 16 seats for House of Representatives to the PDP.

“It therefore means that the North Central zone has contributed more to the success of the APC than the other zones apart from the South west.

“We therefore fail to see the reason behind the decision to sideline a zone that has given a greater number of votes in all the elections to the APC while a zone that has given less is being considered for two key positions in the National Assembly,” the group added.

They however called on the party and members-elect to rally support for the incumbent Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase to emerge as the next Speaker, saying he deserves to be the next Speaker having the most number of years and being a deputy to the outgoing speaker, as well as a loyal party man.