… wants North to play significant role in Speaker candidate selection
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has urged the President elect,Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently wade into the zoning arrangement offered by the All Progressives Congress APC National Working Committee NWC for the 10th National Assembly leadership seats.
In a statement he personally signed on Wednesday, the governor said the hasty manner in which the decision was reached and announced could put the party in crisis and make it vulnerable to the opposition to lash at.
The Ondo governor expressed dismay that in an issue as important as zoning of principal offices in the NASS, that the party leadership that the party deemed it less important to t carry the Progressives Governors Forum along .
In the light of this, Akeredolu has advised the National Working Committee NWC of the APC to immediately convene a stakeholders meeting to discuss thorny issues t”hat would strengthen our party”.
Recall that the leadership of the APC met on Monday and announced zones and preferred candidates for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
But the Ondo governor said the contents, intentions, and motives of the zoning formula represented early signs of steps aimed at attempts to cabin the hard-earned Presidency for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by a few individuals with eyes on Aso Rock power buttons.
According to him, there is no reason why the Northwest region would have two presiding officer positions zoned to it out of four while North Central had none.
In the foregoing development, the governor threw his weight behind those rejecting the party’s zoning arrangement which he said was the handiwork of those who claimed to be close to the President elect with the intent of laying booby traps and cause disaffection for the president elect.
His statement reads in part.
“Therefore, the move to zone the National Assembly leadership positions on the behest of interested personalities with perceived closeness to the President-elect manifestingly, lays the dangerous foundation of distrust, needless suspicion even as it structures nothing but a combination of booby traps. We must avoid all these.
“Let the North play a stronger, more robust and all-inclusive roles in the emergence of the positions zoned to the region, especially the Speakership.
“Furthermore, it strikes a huge ingratitude that the role of the Progressive Governors Forum appears unimportant. As leaders of the Party in their respective States, there cannot be a greater disservice to them that a consensus was yet to be reached when the NWC hurriedly released a dangerous tool for the opposition in the guise of a zoning formula. To me, even on this note, it’s unacceptable.
“Does it not also exude a serious discomfort that the aspirants to the Speakership were not consulted, approached and effectively engaged before the purported zoning formula? It does, and clearly so.
“It is in this regard that I salute the courage of the Speakership aspirants for their show of solidarity, companionship and applaudable love for the Party in their rejection, resentment and objection to the brazenly teleguided zoning arrangement that is skewed and targeted against some zones and identified individuals. Their action is commendable just as they are urged to ensure they pursue this to a logical conclusion. This is an unworkable arrangement that reinforces injustice and enhances inequity; and I join them in rejecting this zoning formula.
“I call on the NWC of our great Party to follow the path of purity and Justice. It is perhaps expedient that Mr. President-elect interrogates this skewed arrangement and give direction that reflects our collective commitment to equality and fairness.
“In this particular case, and for the purpose of avoiding a repeat of untoward situations, it is advised that the APC NWC immediately summons the National Executive Committee (NEC)after robust National Caucus/Stakeholders parley to agree on terms that would strengthen our great Party.”
