As the tussle for the leadership positions in the ninth
National Assembly rages on, a group of All Progressives Congress (APC)
stakeholders on Tuesday staged a protest at the National Secretariat of the
party in Abuja to demand the zoning of the House of Representatives Speaker to
the North Central zone of the country.
The group, under the auspices of North Central APC
Ambassadors, in a letter dated April 1, which was addressed to the national chairman
of the party, insisted that the zone should be given the opportunity to produce
the Speaker of the House of Representatives as a reward for the 2.4 million
votes it gave President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential poll.
The letter was signed jointly by coordinators from
five states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muyideen Yusuf (Kwara),
Rita Longjap (Plateau), Muhammad Ibn Muhammad (Niger), Lucas Cassius (Nasarawa),
Yahaya Dauda (FCT) and Shehu Araga (Kogi).
The leadership of the APC had openly endorsed Senator
Ahmed Lawan from Northeast for Senate president and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila from
Southwest as Speaker of the House.
Also the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
had declared his support for the Lagos State-born lawmaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
But the North Central group in the letter argued that since
Northwest has the president, Southwest has vice president and Senate president
has been zoned to Northeast, the speakership position must be zoned to North
Central region.
The letter partly read: "North-central should be rewarded
for its performance in the 2019 elections. With 2.4million votes for President Buhari,
North Central came third behind Northwest and North-east regions
"Even though Southwest has the vice president, it didn't
perform as North Central in last elections. So, who should be rewarded?
"North Central has consistently been loyal to the party.
Since 1999, the region has never occupied the position of Speaker or Deputy Speaker
while all the other zones have occupied these positions."
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