A former member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Chika, has described the zoning of the principal positions of the 10th National Assembly by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as undemocratic.
Chika, who represented Shiroro/Rafi/Munya Federal Constituency of Niger state cautioned the APC to tread with caution because they are no longer the majority in the National Assembly anymore, especially in the House of Representatives, OsunDaily News learnt.
The former lawmaker remarked that the choice of the leadership of the House is solely the responsibility of members-elect.
Chika was reported to have told newsmen that “If the issue of zoning had been done democratically, the party would have deemed it fit to carry other contenders along.
”All the major contestants have said that there is no way the party will zone the Speaker without carrying them along.
“The APC should know that it does not have the majority, particularly in House of Reps. The minority is greater in number and with that, you cannot dictate to members.
“The law did not say APC member-elect must be the speaker but the law say, member must choose among themselves, so if APC becomes very careless as a single party even as a majority other people will take it up.
“We are not in a military administration; we are in a democratic administration.
“If you cannot allow zoning to take place because you want to balance certain things, then you cannot nano-zone the position of the national assembly.
“This is carelessness. And if Mr President-elect wants to govern Nigeria well, he should be able to take a stand right now.”
Chika as well condemned the exclusion of the North-Central and the North-East from the zoning arrangement saying the APC got the majority of its votes from those regions, adding that the North-Central alone gave the APC over 40% of the total vote in the North.
He, therefore, called on the leadership of the APC to look into the matter before it spells doom.
Earlier, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC announced the zoning arrangement as Senate President – South-South, Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Deputy Senate President – (North West), Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano).
Others are the Speaker, House of Representatives are North-West, Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna); Deputy Speaker (South-East), and Ben Kalu (Abia).
