Barring a crucial intervention by the top hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, some aspirants for the key leadership positions in the coming 10th National Assembly (NASS) might frustrate the ruling party’s zoning arrangements.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that already, the Southwest geopolitical zone has produced the president-elect, while the Northeast produced the vice President-elect (Kashim Shettima). In line with existing arrangements, South-East, South-South, North Central and North-West, are expected to fill other elective positions in the Senate and House of Representatives, especially the Senate president seat and House of Representatives Speakership.
The next President of the Senate, according to APC stakeholders, is expected to be a Christian from the Southern part of the country, to balance the religious faiths in the country. Both the President-elect and the Vice President-elect are Muslims. However, some current members of the National Assembly from the North, who have been re-elected to the upper and lower legislative chambers, are reportedly intensifying campaigns and mounting pressure on the various organs of the ruling APC to leave the contest open and jettison zoning.
This newspaper gathered that one of the aspirants from the Northwest has vowed to ignore the position of the party and put himself up for election on the day of inauguration.
A name that has been constantly mentioned in the race is former governor of Abia State and incumbent Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, and he is thrown his hat into the ring. Two other Senators-elect from the South have signified interest in the Senate Presidency: former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio; and an erstwhile organising secretary of the APC, Osita Izunaso.
The 10th National Assembly is expected to be inaugurated tentatively on the June 13 2023.