APC to Zone Senate Presidency to South-south, Speakership to North Central

APC to Zone Senate Presidency to South-south, Speakership to North Central

By Kabir Akintayo

Ahead of the May 29 handover date, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have reportedly agreed the zones that will fill positions in the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government.

Sources in the top echelon of the party told POLITICS DIGEST on Thursday that the zoning of offices was done in line with the need to ensure fairness to all six geo-political zones and ensure inclusion of all interests.

One of the sources said the party has decided to zone the position of Senate President to South-south and that of Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North Central.

According to a zoning formula sighted by ‘POLITICS DIGEST’, North Central will retain the party chairman’s position and Speakership, while North East will have the Vice-President and House Majority Leader.

North West will have Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Deputy Senate President.

South West will have the President and Senate Majority Chief Whip while Southeast will take Senate Majority Leader and South- South will have the Senate President and House Minority Chief Whip.

The party chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, had met with the President-elect and newly elected lawmakers, at the State House in Abuja, where he said that the leadership of the party, and Bola Tinubu will spear-head the zoning formula decision.

“The president-elect and the party leadership will make appropriate consultations in working out a formula for sharing those offices. I assure you that whatever sharing formula the party and the President-elect arrive at will be fair, just, equitable and satisfy the majority of our members.” Adamu said.

Among the contenders for the position of Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio appears to be in pole position in line with the zoning formula while Senator Orji Uzor Kalu may emerge as Senate Majority Leader as against the Senate Presidency he prefers. The sentiments appear to favour south-south because the party did better there than southeast in the presidential election.

Akpabio also gave Tinubu over 160,000 votes in Akwa Ibom, a state governed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The Speakership is also going to North Central, a zone won by APC. The Present Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, has been favored to succeed his boss, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. The Deputy speaker is from Wase federal constituency of Plateau State.

APC won four out of the six states in the zone – Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Benue – and came second in the two states left – Nasarawa and Plateau.

The APC also won in North-West overall even though it lost Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi, and won Jigawa and Zamfara. The party is therefore zoning the Deputy Senate Presidency and SGF to the zone.

Many APC chieftains are already projecting Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano as the next SGF even though Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) will fancy their chances. The Deputy Senate President may pass to Senator Barau Jubrin from Kano North senatorial district having already declared interest in contesting for Senate Presidency.

Southwest has been projected to take the Senate Majority Chief Whip, having already produced the President-elect. Rumours have it that the present Speaker, Gbajabiamila, may be considered for the role of Chief of staff to the President.

Pundits may express surprise at the fact that the northeast is getting both the Vice President and House Majority Leader despite the fact that the party performed abysmally in presidential election in the zone, winning only Borno and losing Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Adamawa states to PDP.

When contacted on the telephone to confirm the authenticity of the zoning formula, the APC Spokesperson, Felix Morka, urged our correspondent to ignore it since it is not official.

Our sources are however insisting that the list is authentic and will be made public at a later date.