Group wants House of Reps Speaker zoned to South South
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has been urged to zone the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives to the South South geo-political zone to reflect the principle of federal character required by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in the incoming 8th National Assembly.
A pro-democracy group under the aegis of Change Vanguard made the call in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tayo Bello, in Abuja yesterday to avoid a situation where the three northern zones will produce the President, Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives.
The statement reads: “Change Vanguard welcomes the positive political revolution brought by the APC and the subsequent election of Muhammadu Buhari as president-elect on March 28, 2015.
“However, Change Vanguard is disturbed by ongoing political developments in the lead-up to the May 29, 2015 handover date. As it stands, the APC administration already has the president-elect, Buhari, from the North-west and the vice president-elect, Prof Yemi Osinbajo from the South West.
“Change Vanguard is aware that the position of the Senate President may go to the North Central or North East geo-political zone since the South East previously touted for the Senate presidency failed to produce any APC senator.
“We are disturbed by the reported moves by the APC to zone the position of Speaker, House of Representatives to the North East. “Change Vanguard reminds the APC that if the House speakership position is zoned to the North East geo-political region, it would be a clean sweep for the country’s northern region with the President, Senate president and House Speaker coming from there.
This will be in breach of the constitution and a divisive development. ”Change Vanguard recognises the fact that the South East failed to produce any federal lawmaker in the Senate and House of Representatives.
However, the South South geo-political zone returned at least three ranking and qualified APC House members. This is a golden opportunity that the APC must not miss to ensure.”
The group further said: “In the spirit of fairness and adherence to federal character, the position of Speaker, House of Representatives should be zoned to the South South geo-political zone.
“We call on the APC to adhere to the ‘federal character’ principle, which has been enshrined in Nigeria’s Constitution since 1979. The federal character principle seeks to ensure that appointments to public service institutions fairly reflect the linguistic, ethnic, religious, and geographic diversity of the country.”
The incoming 8th Assembly of the National Assembly is due to be inaugurated on June 6, 2015 and already six APC lawmakers from five geo-political zones of the country are jostling for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
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7 Comments
Do you really think the South South & South East is interested in your speaker-ship position capital NO you cannot turn the hand of the clock. Hold the Presidency, Senate Presidency and the Speaker ship all to yourselves govern yourselves and be happy. If you like introduce sharia law good luck
You SS and SE guys dont understand politics at all. With your behaviors in this election lets see whether you’ll all remain in your creaks fighting yourself. A
m sure your regions were brainwashed by ur so called fake politicians.
@disqus_am0mSAPNWC..Sometimes its important to bury retarded brains and away from certain public discussion. Politics is a win-lose and never a win-win. APC, ACN, AC and CPC has always lost the number 1 slot since 1999 and nobody thinks the Yorubas or Hausas are politically daft. An average Igbo remains supreme in Nigeria and thats why every Nigeria run scared at the mention of Igbo and resort to cheap hate preaching. How many Igbos has stolen from Nigeria wealth compared to Northerners
Your respomse is arrogant and uncalled for . What stops the SS from making the country ungovernable for incoming administration of Buhari , the same way Boko haram did to Jonathan ? The impact of Niger Delta insurgency will be economically more ruinous for Nigeria because they produce 90% of Nigerias wealth. If Nigeria were a true federation , or we had kept the original constitution changed by Northern Military Dictators to suit the North, you dare not make such asinine comments. Dont be fooled, the era of “Northern born to rule” is gone for ever. Dont ever dream of thinking it can be revived. Remember that that Ondo and Ekiti states in the West are not controlled by APC and that those are the states that make things happen historically in Nigeria. Be humble and do not exhibit indecent triumphalism, which may provoke reactions, Do not cause problems for Pa Gen Buhari by unguarded provocative utterances.
The sOUTH EAST and SOUTH SOUTH are ignorant of polical arithmetics, They emulate late Senator Chuba Okadigbo, SHEKENAN
@disqus_am0mSAPNWC:disqus..Sometimes its important to bury retarded brains and away from certain public discussion. Politics is a win-lose and never a win-win. APC, ACN, AC and CPC has always lost the number 1 slot since 1999 and nobody thinks the Yorubas or Hausas are politically daft. An average Igbo remains supreme in Nigeria and thats why every Nigeria run scared at the mention of Igbo and resort to cheap hate preaching. How many Igbos has stolen from Nigeria wealth compared to Northerners ?
Speaking of the SS geopolitical zone, at least Edo state gave Buhari some meaningful votes. He got over 40% of the votes from the state and elected at least three members of house of rep (all APC). Edo is strongly behind the president-elect, some recognition would be in order.
We will review and take appropriate action.