10th NASS: North Central govs reject APC zoning

The North Central governors have rejected the zoning of the 10th Assembly leadership released by the ruling All Progressive Congress.

The governors have also scheduled a meeting with the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu.

The APC had micro-zoned the position of the Senate President to Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Jibrin Baraus as Deputy Senate President while Honourable Tajudeen Abas was anointed as the aspirant for the seat of the Speaker and Benjamin Kalu as Deputy Speaker.

The governors, however, made this resolution after they met with aspirants of NASS Presiding Offices from the Zone held on Monday at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa Abuja.

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The governors said, “The North Central as a geopolitical zone is fully committed to supporting the incoming administration of the President-Elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a better Nigeria. And will do everything possible to ensure the Renewed Hope agenda is actualised for the prosperity of all Nigerians.

“We reviewed the proposed zoning structure released and promised to reach out to the President-elect His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu and APC National Working Committee to appeal for reconsideration of the zoning of the Presiding offices of the National Assembly as released by the NWC.

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“We raised reservation about the zoning formula released with the allocation of the Positions of the Deputy Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 10th National Assembly to a particular geopolitical zone of the country.”

The governors further resolved and agreed to fully utilize all necessary dialogue and consultations to resolve the NASS leadership issue, they all agreed to reach out to all major stakeholders for an amicable and acceptable zoning framework that will be all-inclusive.

The governors agreed with the aspirants’ positions and appealed to all Senators and Members-elect to continue to give Mr President-elect all the support needed for the smooth take-up of the 10th National Assembly, while also furthering consultations.

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Some of the governors at the meeting were Abubakar Bello, Governor Niger State who is also the chairman; Simon Lalong, Governor, Plateau State; Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, Governor, Kwara State; Abdullahi Sule, Governor, Nassarawa State.

Others are Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Rev. Fr Hyacinth Alia, Governor-elect, of Benue State.

The aspirants present are Rt.Honourable, Idris Wase, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives; Senator Sani Musa and Honourable Yusuf Gagdi. (Punch)