The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is reported to have told the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that he prefers that the Senate President seat for the 10th National Assembly be zoned to the south rather than micro zoning it to the south south.
This was said to be part of the discussions on Wednesday between Tinubu, APC leaders, and some National Assembly members over the zoning of the leadership of the incoming 10th National Assembly.
It was gathered that some members of the APC leadership and three South West senators urged that the Senate Presidency be zoned to the South-South but Tinubu outrightly rejected the request.
According to sources quoted by The Sun, the President-elect argued that it was wrong to propose zoning the post of Senate President to South-South only as he said leaving it open to the entire South will give all the qualified aspirants from South East and South-South to go into a fair contest just like APC delegates picked the presidential candidate of the party prior to the election without micro zoning.
Tinubu was said to have told participants at the meeting that in the interest of fairness, equity, religious and regional balancing the southern region, and not just the south south should be allowed to contest for the Senate President seat.
An impeccable source privy to the meeting said: “The plot to have a sole South-South candidate by zoning the office to the zone failed flat with President-elect, who, in his wisdom, rejected pressures by some members of the party leadership and the Southwest senators for the zoning of the Senate presidency to the South-South.
“There’s no truth in all that was reported in the media that the President and the NWC have settled for South-South. The President insisted that the position should be zoned to the South region.”
The Akpabio Angle
Further details revealed that the push for the micro zoning of the Senate President seat to the south south is being sponsored by Godswill Akpabio so as to make it easier for him to clinch the position.
It was gathered that if the proposition had been accepted, the Akwa Ibom senator, being the only ranking APC senator from the zone, will become the sole candidate.
Kalu And Musa
Also, a senator-elect who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated that contrary to the claim of the three senators from the South West, the majority of elected lawmakers from the zone and other senators have queued behind the current Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who hails from the South East geopolitical zone.
He said they also support the ambition of Senator Sani Musa for Deputy Senate President.
According to him, some Southwest Senators tried to convince Tinubu that the region had settled for Akpabio but upon investigation, the President-elect discovered that wasn’t the case.
He said: “The three senators from South West lied to the president-elect Tuesday night that all of them from the zone were supporting Akpabio for Senate President, but Asiwaju couldn’t be fooled. He cross-checked the claim by reaching out to the other senators-elect only to discover it was untrue.
“As South-westerners, we have a good relationship with all Nigerians and these three senators cannot speak for us. They are not our leaders and cannot take South West senators for granted. Our leader is a former governor who is also a senator.
“For us, we have resolved to do the right thing for the country since it’s the only way Asiwaju (president-elect) can succeed as president. We have chosen to support fairness and justice as this country is built on a tripod – Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
“We are happy that the president-elect did not listen to them because he is not petty. He likes fairness and he wants to do the right thing. The 12 senators from the South West already have a preferred candidate. We have 11 senators and one ranking senator who have endorsed Senator Orji Uzor Kalu for president and Senator Sani Musa for Deputy Senate President.
“The northern senators and southern senators believe in the leadership of these two senators and there is no going back. The good news is that Asiwaju has a strong character and will stand firm on his personal convictions.”