The All Progressives Congress (APC) victory in the February 23 National Assembly polls may be under threat following clamour for inclusion by party loyalists.
In the House of Representatives and Nigerian Senate, the party has
majority in both chambers and is in the position to produce the next
Speaker and Senate President, respectively.
The party had stood up to the plate, as it zoned the Speakership to
South West, endorsed Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos) for the post while it
zoned Senate Presidency to North East endorsed Sen Ahmad Lawan (Yobe)
for the post.
Endorsement of these candidates and the zoning has been kicked
against by politicians, lawmakers, and party loyalists as other
candidates have also declared intention to run for same post and already
began to campaign intensely.
Also, some have called for an outright restructuring of the zoning
formular which reached new heights when youths in Plateau, Niger, and
Nasarawa states in separate protests demanded that the office of the
Speaker of the House of Representatives be zoned to the north-central
region of the country.
The youths made the demand in separate protests held today in their respective states.
In Plateau, the demonstrators under the auspices of North-Central
Concerned Youths held a peaceful protest in Jos, calling for the zoning
of the speakership to the region for equity and justice.
They gathered at the office of the APC in Jos, carrying placards with various inscriptions.
The protesters stressed the role of the north-central region in the
re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari and the performance of the
party in the 2019 general elections.
They, therefore, called on the leadership of the APC to intervene and
ensure that the region was not marginalised, regarding the leadership
of the National Assembly.
A similar protest held in Minna, the Niger State capital where the
youths accused the leadership of the party of a plot to marginalise the
north-central.
The youths who carried placards with different inscriptions urged the
President to intervene in the matter and ensure that the principle of
Federal Character was observed.
They added that any attempt to deny the region from producing the
Speaker for the ninth Assembly would not do good to the unity of the
country.
Some youths in Nasarawa State also took to the streets of Lafia to
demand that the north-central region be given the opportunity to lead
the House of Representatives.
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