As the race for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly gathers momentum, the Coalition for Good Governance. and Economic Justice in Africa, has made a strong case for the South South geopolitical zone to produce the next President of the Senate to ensure fairness, equity and regional balance in the distribution of power in the country.
Chief Convener of the Coalition, Prince Kassim Afegbua who launched the advocacy yesterday at a media parley in Abuja, argued that since the last elections raised the political temperature of the country, with ethnicity and religion becoming worrying sources of strife and bitter disagreements, there was an urgent need to allay the fears of the various ethno-religious and political blocs in the country.
Afegbua, a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Edo State, appealed to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to set in motion an appropriate zoning formulae for the leadership of the Parliament that could engender inclusion, ensure political stability and preserve the unity of the country.
He said that while the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC had helped the ruling party to retain power, it had raised the stakes and triggered the historical insecurities of several groups about hegemony and outright domination of one group over the others.
Afegbua, further canvassed that since the incoming President and Vice President are both Muslims, it would only be fair, reasonable and rational that the leadership of the two chambers of the Parliament were chosen from among lawmakers who subscribe to other faiths.
“It is, therefore, incumbent upon the next administration to take deliberate steps to assuage the fears of many and re-affirm its own commitment to fairness, social justice, and equitable distribution of power amongst the geopolitical zones.
“The President-Elect (Bola Tunubu) has justified his selection of a Muslim running mate as a practical choice informed by election victory calculations, not religious bigotry. He must now back the assurance with actions, beginning with the composition of the leadership of the National Assembly, specifically the Senate Presidency and Speakership of the House of Representatives.
“The Senate President, being the third highest-ranking government official in the country, and one produced by an indirect election largely influenced and determined by the ruling party, is and has always been an opportunity to balance ethnic, regional, and religious concerns. The need for balancing that algorithms, is more compelling now, in view of our present history and shared commitment.
“It is the biggest indicator of every President and party’s sensitivity to national feelings, grievances, and inclinations. It sets the stage for how the administration would be perceived and projects the president’s own leadership style and moral strength, including his ability to organize, lead, and nudge the party in the direction of justice and other larger goals away from narrow, parochial interests. In the light of this, we appeal to the leadership of the ruling party, the APC, and the President-elect to cede the Senate President to the South-South geopolitical zone,” he said.
Afegbua acknowledged that whereas there have been a series of agitations for the Senate Presidency from other zones, it would be better to cede the position to the South-South geopolitical zone because of its contributions to the success of the APC in the presidential election.
He recalled that during the last election, the APC, was able to make serious in-roads into the South South zone that has been under the strpnghold of the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP).
“The APC came first in Rivers State and claimed over 45% of the total number of votes in the other five states. This is despite the historic status of the region as an opposition stronghold.
“The members of the party from the South South displayed a high sense of duty and loyalty to the party, canvassing votes not just for their individual positions but equally for the President-Elect. Indeed, without their outstanding show of belief, the President-Elect may have well faltered in achieving the mandatory 25% spread in the two-thirds of states of the Federation.
“While many fair-minded actors agree in principle that the Senate Presidency must return to the South given the fact that the incumbent is from the North, similar to the Vice President-elect; and with the South West out of the contest given that it is the home of the President-Elect, there are those who have made a case for the South East based on the region’s perpetual cry of marginalization and the need to balance the power equation.
“But what the South-East desires is the presidency of the country, anything short of that, is a slap on their face, moreso that the zone had occupied the seat of senate president on five occasions, for eight years, and deputy senate president position for 12 years, in the last 24 years of our fledgling democracy. In the minds of those who make the argument, to pacify the South, is to indulge the South East and to heed its call for a sense of belonging.
“Let me re-emphasise that in the last 24 years, the South East has enjoyed the unique privilege of producing the Senate President on five different occasions. Senators Evans Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Adolphus Wabara, Pius Anyim, and Ken Nnamani, all of whom held sway as the Presidents of the Senate in the present fourth republic are all from the South East. If you include the additional stretch of 12 years during which the South East also held the Deputy Senate President position, that amounts to a near total control of that arm of government, and a more than earned political compensation.
“Moreover, considering that the contributions of each region to the victory of the ruling party is also a significant factor in the power-sharing tussle, as there would be no power to share without electoral triumph; it is just as important to scrutinize the numbers the South East gave to the APC in the presidential election.
“Indeed, whilst Senators from the region who are angling for the Senate President position manage to secure convincing victory in their various senatorial districts, with some of them pulling thousands of votes, the President-Elect was only able to claim a negligible figure, even though both contest, (the Senatorial and Presidential) held on the same day and followed the same process.
“This points to a possible conspiracy in which the Senators from the Eastern extraction happily traded away the President-Elect’s chances to secure their own victories. If this is the case, as the evidence suggests, it exposes a sore lack of belief in the President-Elect and a most damaging act of self-preservation'” he said.
Afegbua argued that going by the performance of the regions in the presidential election, it would be an act of injustice to accord privilege to the South East over the South South for the Senate Presidency as such, according to him, would amount to the party giving one of its biggest prizes to a geopolitical zone that contributed the least to its victory.
