10th N’Assembly: APC NWC Meets Today to Ratify Consensus, Zoning

*Leadership tussle worsens as 68 senators-elect reject deal 

*Group warns Tinubu, party not to plunge selves into crisis  

*South-east senators caution president-elect against injustice 

*ACF dissociates self from ex-Niger Delta minister’s endorsement

Adedayo Akinwale and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The National Working Committee (NWC) of All Progressives Congress (APC) has scheduled to meet today to ratify its proposed consensus and zoning arrangement for the leadership positions of the 10th National Assembly ahead of the legislature’s inauguration in June.
The planned meeting followed the rejection of the ruling party’s consensus arrangement by about 68 senators-elect from various political parties. The senators-elect had met from Saturday night till the early hours of Sunday in Abuja and resolved to reject any compromise plan that could lead to imposition of presiding officers on the upper chamber of the 10th National Assembly, billed for inauguration on June 13.

A pro-ruling party association, All Progressives Congress (APC) Integrity Group, warned the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, and APC’s NWC not to plunge the party into crisis over the zoning of leadership offices of the federal legislature.
Relatedly, South-east senators-elect caucus, yesterday, passed a resolution to reject the zoning of the office of Senate President to the South-south geopolitical zone. They warned Tinubu against encouraging and supporting “injustice”.

Similarly, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) dissociated itself from an alleged endorsement of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for the post of senate president by a coalition of northern groups.
Tinubu had last Friday met with the leadership of his party, APC, and, reportedly, reached a compromise on the zoning arrangement for the six principal offices in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Those at the meeting included APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Deputy National Chairman, South, Emma Eneukwu; National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo- Agege; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

At the meeting, the leadership of APC was, reportedly, directed to ensure compliance with the zoning arrangement by all the aspirants in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
THISDAY checks revealed that Adamu had after an NWC meeting last Wednesday hinted that the party was working on a consensus arrangement in handling the 10th National Assembly leadership issue.
Following last Friday’s resolution, THISDAY gathered, Adamu summoned the NWC meeting for today, scheduled to take place at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja by noon.

A party source, who pleaded anonymity, said Adamu was expected to brief NWC members at today’s meeting on the outcome of the meeting held with Tinubu last Friday. The source added that the notice of the meeting sent to NWC members had a one-point agenda for deliberation.
The source disclosed, “This is a one-point agenda meeting. The chairman is expected to brief the committee on the outcome of the meeting held with the president-elect on Friday on the zoning of the NASS leadership positions and get the buy-in of NWC members to the arrangement.

“They (NWC) are expected to also consider a date for a meeting with all the major aspirants jostling for one position or the other in the two chambers of the National Assembly to ensure a rancour-free electioneering process in filling the leadership positions of the National Assembly.”
National Publicity Secretary of APC, Felix Morka, confirmed the NWC meeting today, saying, “NWC meeting holds on Monday at about noon.”
Asked if the zoning of the National Assembly leadership would be deliberated, Morka said, “The issue may be discussed, but no further information on that for now.  You can be assured that we shall brief the press after tomorrow’s (today) meeting.”

Leadership Tussle Worsens as 68 Senators-elect Reject Consensus

No fewer than 68 senators-elect across party lines rejected any consensus arrangement that could lead to imposition of presiding officers on the upper chamber of the 10th National Assembly, billed for inauguration June 13. They took the decision at a meeting in Abuja, which lasted from Saturday night till the early hours of Sunday.
At the same time, All Progressives Congress (APC) Integrity Group warned Tinubu and the NWC not to plunge the party into crisis over zoning of National Assembly offices.

One of the 68 senators-elect, who came from the North-east, said on conditions of anonymity that majority of them had indicated their strong opposition to the planned imposition, and agreed to work towards electing pan-Nigeria senators as President and Deputy President of the Senate.
He said, “All senators-elect from 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.”

On the issue of ranking, senator-elect from North-east, who did not want his name mentioned, indicated that only five out of the 18 senators-elect were in support of the imposition of Akpabio and Barau Jibrin.
“Only four out of the 15 senators-elect from the South-east had agreed to the Akpabio/Barau project,” the source added.
Another senator-elect from Anambra State confided in THISDAY that a majority of the senators had subscribed to electing a leader on the floor, adding that the next Senate President would emerge without external interference.

The senator said, “No monetary or executive imposition will determine our choice of a leader and we will do it conscious of the fact that part of such leadership must be from the southeastern part of the country.
“In the North-central, the plot also thickens as many of the senators-elect are reacting to the APC leadership plans to short-change the zone with the imposition.
“They are lamenting that the arrangement would not do the zone any good, as both Speaker and Deputy Senate President positions 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 emerges.
“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 in the Senate.”
Indications from the senators-elect were that only about six of the zone’s 18 senators-elect might accept to go with the Akpabio/Barau deal.
THISDAY, however, gathered that only the South-west appeared to be comfortable with the Akpabio/Barau project. Three South-west senators were, in fact, said to be behind the Akpabio/Barau idea.
The senators, who were said to be projecting the religion cards in the election of the 10th Senate President, were Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti), Adeola Somolon (Ogun), and Tokunbo Abiru (Lagos).

As it currently stands, THISDAY gathered, six of the senators-elect from the South-west favoured independently choosing their leaders.
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 are crystal clear.
“They are bent on imposing leadership on the red and green chambers, which is 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. Majority have denounced the imposition and have vowed to cast their votes independently according to their conscience and not on anyone’s imposing anybody to them.
“The senators-elect have all agreed to shelve their party affiliations 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 senators from a 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 Abdul-Aziz Yari told stakeholders that he would take the battle to the Senate floor.

But APC Integrity Group warned Tinubu and the party leadership not to plunge APC into crisis. The group said in a statement signed by the coordinator, Malam Dawud Mohammed, and secretary, Chisom Nwakanma, that allowing one geopolitical zone to produce two presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly was a recipe for crisis.
The group maintained that the position of Deputy Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives could not go to the same zone. It added that it would be in the interest of the party to zone the presiding offices of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, House of Representatives, and Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives to different geopolitical zones.

It said while the national leadership of the party was yet to come up with the zoning arrangement, the president-elect was also yet to anoint a candidate as a presiding officer.
The group, however, stressed that going by the horse-trading at the National Assembly, some lawmakers had been favoured for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives.

South-east Senators Warn President-elect against Injustice

The South-east senators-elect Caucus, yesterday, passed a resolution rejecting the purported zoning of the office of Senate President to the South-south, and warned Tinubu and the APC NWC to avoid any form of injustice on the matter.
In a communiqué issued after several hours of meeting held at the Maitama residence of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP, Anambra South), the senators-elect from the South-east alleged that the Tinubu administration had begun to work towards marginalising their zone. They noted that since the zone was tactically denied presidential ticket by the two major political parties in the February 2023 election, the position of Senate President ought to have been conceded to the zone in the interest of justice and fairness.

Part of the communiqué 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 South-east has been blessed with ranking senators-elect, including members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
The communiqué also said, “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 reason, 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.”
The South-east senators-elect continued, “He should be conscious of the grave implications of zoning and endorsing a candidate from the South-south without any regard for the South-east. Such 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 South-east region, which formed the major reason the APC received the amount of votes (it got) from the South-east. The incoming administration of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu must correct this anomaly by ensuring that the South-east is given the opportunity to produce the next Senate President.

“With the sidelining of the South-east from producing the presidential candidates of the major political parties before the general election, 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 confidence of the people from the South-east and South-south geopolitical zones and, indeed, all Nigerians in the unity of the country.”
South-east senators-elect also said, “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 Deputy Senate President in the 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 least 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 round the South-east to ensure that justice, fairness and unity of the country prevails.”
Apart from Ubah, who read the communiqué, others present at the meeting were Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh, Osita Izunaso, Ezenwa Oyewuchi, Tony Nwoye, PC Ndubueze, Okey Ezea, Kelvin Chukwu, and Osita Ngwu.

ACF Dissociates Self from Akpabio’s Endorsement

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) dissociated itself from the endorsement of Akpabio for Senate President by the coalition of northern groups.
A member of ACF, Musa Saidu, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said endorsing Akpabio for Senate President would spell doom for northern Nigeria.
Saidu stated, “We hereby dissociate ourselves from the endorsement of Senator 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 actually not one of them.”
Saidu added that the coalition must have made the endorsement out of ignorance.
He said in the statement, “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.”

Saidu said ACF would continue to fight and speak against injustice in the country. He stated, “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 February 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.”