Abuja – The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) especially the National Assembly yesterday deepened as the House of Representatives caucus from the North Central and their counterpart from the South East rejected the zoning formula by the party.
following the rejection by the North-Central
and South-East caucus of the zoning of House principal offices by the national leadership of the party.
Nigerian Observer learnt that the APC national leadership had written the House, notifying the House through its Speaker Yakubu Dogara of the zoning of the positions of House leader, deputy House leader, chief whip and deputy whip respectively.
Even as the letter written to the House though the speaker by the leadership of the party has not been read, the APC, lawmakers who have gotten wind of the proposed zoning arrangement by the party are miffed by the formula adopted by the party in the sharing of the remaining principal offices of the House.
Addressing journalists yesterday at the National Assembly, the APC North-Central caucus vehemently rejected the exclusion of the zone in the allocation of the remaining principal offices of the House.
Spokesman of the caucus, Hon Bahago Hamman-Pategi from Niger state described the plan action of the party as false claim that it arrived at the zoning formula after due consultation with the various caucuses of the party in the House.
According to Pategi, the decision of the APC leadership is “a clear usurpation of the powers of the zonal caucuses and their members as guaranteed by the constitution and the standing rules of the House of Representatives.
“We therefore strongly reject the purported selection by the party which we see as being in conflict with the principle of federal character as enshrined in the constitution”, Hon Bahago declared.
While the caucus resolved to pursue the injustice via all civil and legitimate channels to its conclusion, Bahago said the caucus believes that the party should have considered equity and fairness in sharing of principal offices of the House following the emergence of both the speaker and
deputy speaker.
“We believe it will be inconsiderate of the party to consider both the North-East and South-West zones after both zones have produced both the speaker and deputy speaker respectively”, he added.
Meanwhile, the South-East caucus has also expressed its dissatisfaction with the APC leadership they claimed did not zone any principal office to the region.
Hon Chukwukere Ikechukwu, who spoke to journalists on behalf of the caucus, said the South-East geo-political zone deserves to be allocated one of the remaining four principal offices in the House in the spirit of national character, equity, fairness and justice.
According to him, if the party actually zoned the four remaining principal offices in the House without any consideration given to the South-East, then the caucus has in the interest of justice rejected such power sharing arrangement in its entirety.
“As far as we are concerned within the APC, the South-East has nothing. We cannot stand by and watch the party sweep us and the entire region aside. We therefore condemn this action, it’s unacceptable and it’s unfair”, the lawmaker declared.
Yakubu Dogara, House of Representatives Speaker
