Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima has said leaders of both the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives cannot come from the same religion which influenced the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to cede two posts to South-South and North-West.
The National Working Committee of the ruling had on Monday announced the nomination of Godswill Akpabio, a former Governor of Akwa Ibom State who is from the South-South, as the President of the Senate and Abbas Tajudeen, from Kaduna State as the House of Representatives Speaker for the 10th National Assembly.
However, their nominations have generated intense rancour within the party with the aspirants expressing their rejection of the template.
However, Shettima while speaking during a meeting with some of the House of Representatives members-elect on Friday, implored the lawmakers-elect to accept the zoning arrangement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the leadership of the 10th national assembly.
“The circumstance could validate the negative narrative of the Islamisation agenda of Nigeria.
“The leadership of the forthcoming national assembly must be inclusive because the stability of the nation is much more important than any other consideration.
“What we are trying to avoid is a situation whereby the number one citizen, number two citizen, the number three citizen, the number four citizen, and the number four citizen are all of the same faith. That will lend credence, and validate the negative narrative of the Islamisation agenda of Nigeria.
“This is why my principal, a fair-minded leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is more inclined towards having the number three citizen from the South/south or the south-east. Even in the current circumstance that we find ourselves in, the stability of the nation is much more important than any other consideration.
“All other considerations have to be relegated to the background because we are talking about the stability of the nation.
“We are talking about inclusivity, we are talking about togetherness because nation-building is a continuous work in progress and politics is about perception, it is about optics. I am quite glad that Benjamin Kalu will emerge as the deputy speaker. The hope for the black man rests with the people of this country,” the vice-president-elect said.
