Northern Senators Plotting To Work Against APC’s Zoning

Indications are that some northern senators, who are aspirants in the tussle for the incoming 10th National Assembly, might frustrate the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoning arrangements for the leadership positions in the National Assembly, OsunDaily News has learnt.

It was gathered that going by the zoning structure of the APC as explained by some party stakeholders, the 10th Assembly Senate President is supposed to be a Christian from the Southern part of the country.

This is a move to balance the religious faiths in the country, as both the President-elect, Bola Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima are Muslims and from South West and Northeast.

However, this online news platform understands that some current members of the National Assembly from the North, who have been re-elected to the upper and lower legislative chambers, are allegedly working against the ruling APC’s zoning formula.

The situation as gathered from The Sun has left some analysts speculating that if care is not taken, the incident of 2015 when Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, might happen again with the campaign against zoning.

OsunDaily News learnt that while from the South where the position of the senate president is expected to go by zoning, there are three Senators-elect that have signified interest in the Senate Presidency, about six have come from the North.

While from the South, the former governor of Abia State and Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu; former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio; and a former organising secretary of APC, Osita Izunaso, are the major senators-elect that have already declared interest for the senate presidency, those that have declared from the North include the current President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan from Yobe, Sani Musa from Niger, Mohammed Ali Ndume from Borno, Jibrin Barau from Kano, Abdulazeez Yari from Zamfara, and Aliyu Wamakko from Sokoto, whose re-election has not been decided.

It was gathered from The Sun that two aspirants of the position from the North West, a former governor and a chairman of a juicy committee of the current Senate, respectively have vowed to frustrate the zoning as they have allegedly held a series of meetings with various groups and also one on one to convince and promote the campaign against zoning.

The two said aspirants, as learnt, have also been accused of inducing the new incoming senators with foreign currencies to secure their commitment and loyalty, despite the party’s insistence that the offices will be zoned.

It was as well gathered that while one of the aspirants is relying on his huge financial war chest and contacts within the Governors’ Forum to secure the position, another has vowed to ignore the position of the party and put himself up for election on the day of inauguration.

It was however understood that despite all the inducement, the new senators-elect have been reluctant to give commitments to any of the Northern aspirants.

The new incoming senators who were said to have met in Abuja, reportedly resolved to wait until their various political parties zone the positions and give a clear direction on who to support.