The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defended its zoning arrangement on Tuesday, which has sparked controversy within the party.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that this comes as the ruling party argues for the appointment of Godswill Akpabio as Senate President.
While appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka stated that the South-South zone, which Akpabio represents, has not produced a Senate President since the Fourth Republic began in 1999.
It should be noted that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) zoned the leadership of the 10th National Assembly on Monday.
Recall that the party organ zoned Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) as Senate President to the South-South and Senator Barau Jubrin (Kano) as Deputy Senate President to the North-West.
Others are the Speaker of the House of Representatives (North-West), Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna), and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (South East), Ben Kalu (Abia).
Morka, on the other hand, stated that the party conducted extensive consultations with the vast majority of National Assembly members-elect before settling on the zoning arrangement.
Morka submitted that;
I am from the South-South and I don’t see why the South-South is ineligible for consideration. After all, no Senate President has come from that region since 1999, since this dispensation.
We haven’t had that. Other regions have had some representations. South-East for instance, five of them held that position from the South-East.
That does not mean that the South-East is ineligible or unfit to produce the Senate President; every region of this country can.
But there is something else that we are concerned about; it’s called national interest, it’s called equity, it’s called inclusion, it’s called a sense of ownership.
The party is looking at some very solid parameters and ensuring that every region gets a fair share.