Politics

Why the North-West Shouldn’t Expect the Senate Presidency in the 10th Assembly

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Ali Sabo

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">&NewLine;<div align&equals;"left">&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">By Ali Sabo<&sol;p><div class&equals;"1xlTvSjg" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"left">&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">The race for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly is already heating up&comma; with major contenders for the third and fourth most powerful positions in the country demonstrating their capacities&comma; qualifications&comma; and flexing their muscles&period; Underground works and lobbying have also commenced&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"lvYr9gdL" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Unfortunately&comma; insinuations of vote buying have also surfaced&comma; as has become part of the business in the country&&num;8217&semi;s politics&period; Meanwhile&comma; the ruling All Progressives Congress &lpar;APC&rpar; has remained silent on the issue of where the leadership of the 10th National Assembly will go&comma; while stakeholders within and outside the party have been calling on the president-elect and the party leadership to quickly address this by zoning the positions to avoid what happened in the eighth assembly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Unlike the outgoing president&comma; Bola Ahmed Tinubu&comma; the president-elect is a real politician and strategic&period; As such&comma; he knows the importance of having a loyal house in running his government smoothly and executing developmental projects for the citizens&period; However&comma; his silence regarding the leadership of the house is sending negative messages to well-meaning Nigerians who have been expecting him and the party chairman to call an urgent meeting to address the issue before it plunges the party into an avoidable crisis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Recently&comma; heavyweight members of the APC have been announcing their interest in leading the 10th National Assembly&comma; especially the red chamber&period; Among the heavyweight senators-elect who have publicly declared their interest are Senator Uzor Ojikalu&comma; representing Abia North&comma; a former governor of Abia State and one-term senator going for his second term&semi; Senator Barau I&period; Jibrin&comma; representing Kano North&comma; a former member of the House of Representatives&comma; a two-term senator and going for his third term&semi; and the former governor of Zamfara State&comma; Abdulaziz Yari&comma; who was a former member of the House of Representatives&period; Although the other two senators have more legislative experience than Yari&comma; and experience being part of the precondition for becoming either Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives&comma; in Nigerian politics&comma; anything is possible&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"STzvAtk1" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">While politics rewards people based on their performance and contributions to their party&comma; equity must be applied in sharing the major political positions in the country in the spirit of fairness&comma; justice&comma; and national interest&period; Before delving into that&comma; let&&num;8217&semi;s look at the votes each zone gave to the winning political party in the 2023 general election&period; The North-West&comma; which has the highest number of registered voters in the country&comma; gave the President-elect a total of 2&comma;652&comma;824 votes&period; The South-West produced 2&comma;542&comma;979&comma; the South-East produced 127&comma;605&comma; while the South-South gifted Mr&period; Tinubu 799&comma;957&period; Based on percentages&comma; the North-West gave the President-elect the highest percentage of the votes he garnered&comma; which is 30&percnt;&comma; while the South-East contributed only 1&percnt;&comma; the South-South contributed 9&percnt;&comma; and his home zone&comma; the South-West&comma; contributed 27&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"left">&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">From a common-sense perspective&comma; one would conclude that since the North-West gave the President-elect the highest number and percentage of votes&comma; coupled with the fact that the zone has never produced a Senate President&comma; it should be given the chance to produce one this time&period; However&comma; fairness and equity in the distribution of political positions and resource sharing are what keep the pillars of democracy firm and solid&period; Even though the South-East contributed a meager 1&percnt; and the South-South contributed 9&percnt; of their votes&comma; these zones should be allowed to produce the next Senate President&period; Going contrary to this will further escalate the crisis&comma; discomfort&comma; and alleged sidelining of a certain group of people&comma; especially Christians&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"left">&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"left">&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">&NewLine;Ali Sabo&comma; ANIFR is the Campaign and Communication Officer of the Centre for Information Technology and Development &lpar;CITAD&rpar;&period; He can be reached via his email address&colon; aliyuncee&commat;gmail&period;com<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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