Senator Ajibola Basiru, the spokesman for the ninth Senate and the senatorial candidate for Osun Central, stated that the ruling All Progressive Congress is likely to announce the zoning formula for the 10th Assembly leadership after the Ramadan fast.
This was stated by Senator Basiru on Wednesday morning when he appeared on the Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily.
Due to the party’s selection of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, party chieftains in the South-South and South-East had advocated for the zoning of the senate presidency to their regions in an effort to be fair and to offer other geopolitical regions a sense of belonging.
The majority of senators in both chambers currently belong to the ruling APC, and candidates for the positions of Senate President and Speaker have begun to emerge.
At the time of this report, no fewer than eight senators had expressed interest in running for Senate President. Senators Jibrin Barau from Kano Central, Sani Musa from Niger East, Orji Kalu from Abia North, and GodsWill Akpabio, Akwa-Ibom North-West ) are among them.
Others include Senators Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), Abdul’Aziz Yari (Zamfara West), Patrick Ndubueze (Imo North), Osita Izunaso (Imo West), and others.
Aiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, the president-elect and vice president-elect, as well as Adamu Abdullahi, the party’s chairman, met with the lawmakers-elect earlier in March and advised them to concentrate on winning governorship elections.
The party also announced that a second gathering would be scheduled following the governor’s race to present the party’s zoning plan to the Lawmakers.
But a month after the governorship vote, the party has yet to make the zoning public or schedule another meeting with MPs.
Yet, this protracted quiet has only served to heighten political polarisation since there are disagreements over whether the party will continue to zone the 10th Assembly leadership or not.
Responding to the issue, Senator Basiru said, “I believe that our party will ultimately take a decision on the zoning possibly after Ramadan and certainly before June when the next Assembly will be convoked.”
He noted that beyond tribe and religion, there were other parameters that should be considered in the choice of the National Assembly leadership such as ranking, competence, capacity, and zonal contribution to the victory of Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential poll, amongst others.
He said, “It will be in the best interest of our party to zone the offices so that we can narrow the number of contestants because when you have eight persons from a single political party contesting, it creates a problem for us to have a cohesive force going into the election.”
Basiru also added that APC National Working Committee and the party’s National Executive Committee had not taken any decision yet on which of the six geopolitical zones will produce the next Senate President.
He said, “I’m not aware that the NWC of our party has taken a position on the issue of zoning and where the zoning will be done.
“I’m not aware that the NEC of our party has taken any decision but party leaders will be making a lot of permutations to ensure a seamless relationship between the executive and the legislative arms.”
