As the bullish powerplay, horse trading and debates in the quest for leadership of Nigeria’s Tenth National Assembly progress, a group of northern leaders say the positions should rightfully be apportioned to their area, if logic, fairness and ethnic balancing are properly considered.
The northern leaders made the claim at a conference in Kaduna on Friday, to review the region’s socioeconomic challenges and its contributions to the emergence of All Proggressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the presidency in the 2023 general elections.
The positions in contention are those of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, as well as Speaker of the House of Reptesentatives and Deputy Speaker of the House.
The most strident claims for these positions have, however, have come from the South-East Zone and the crux of their argument is that they have not accessed the prime seat of government, the presidency, for decades.
The thrust of the argugument of the northern leaders is that since the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, are both from the south of the country, it is only fair and just that the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives should go to the north.
The northern leaders involved in this push are from the 19 states in that region and have their backgrounds in academia and politics. They contend that their claim for the north to lead the Senate and House of Representatives is further vested in Section 14(1), (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The conference, which drew participants from across the 19 northern states, had the theme ‘Nation-Building and Democracy, the Imperative of Participation, Equity and Equitable Development of Northern Nigeria’.
The purpose, the conveners said, was to interrogate the challenges facing the region, particularly those concerning, security, education, agriculture and poverty.
The Secretary of the northern leaders’ round-table, Dr Benjamin Dikki, said considering the contribution of the north to Tinubu’s electoral success, it would be illogical and out of place for the south to expect to lead the National Assembly, since both the President-elect and judicial head are southerners.
They further claim that the development of the north would depend on their stake in government. As such, they demand that the elected northern senators contest for all the positions in the 10th National Assembly.
