and national caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have
officially zoned the office of the Senate President in the 8th Senate
to the North central geo-political zone, while the Speaker of the
House of Representatives was zoned to the North-east geo-political
zone.
A source at the APC meeting which lasted till the wee-hours of Friday
told THISDAY that the party leaders accepted in principle a prototype
office sharing formula that would accommodate all vested interests
within the party.
The source said: "After deft negotiations, the leaders agreed to cede
the position of the Senate President to the North-central and that of
the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-east. They
also endorsed a zoning arrangement that would see the South-west
producing the Deputy Senate President and South-south, Deputy
Speaker."
With the agreement, the current minority leader in the Senate, George
Akume from Benue State and Senator Bukola Saraki from Kwara State are
expected to engage each other in a fierce contest for the Senate
Presidency.
It was learnt that the position of the Speaker was earlier allotted to
the South-west but had to be moved to North-east following a strong
lobby by leaders from the zone who argued that such arrangement was
necessary to compensate them for the massive support for the party
during the election.
Apart from the sharing arrangement for the principal positions, the
APC meeting which had personalities like the former Lagos Governor,
Bola Tinubu and some governors in attendance also considered the issue
of ministerial appointments.
In line with THISDAY exclusive story yesterday, the APC leaders also
zoned the office of the Chairman of its Board of Trustees (BoT) to
Adamawa State, where the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is set
to clinch the position that was hitherto held by the former governor
of Osun State and former national chairman of the party, Bisi Akande.
The source hinted further that the party zoned the office of the
Majority Leader of the Senate to the South-west.
However, South-east did not get any position in the current allocation
but according to a top notch APC member, the zone will be compensated
by other appointments to ensure some balance and equity. In all the
eight senatorial seats in the zone, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
won all the seats. This has made it impossible for the zone to aspire
for any principal office in the senate.
The same thing happened in the zone for the House of Representatives.
No single member of the House of Representatives from the zone is from
the APC. PDP won all the National Assembly seats in both arms of the
National Assembly. In fact, in the Presidential Election, the APC did
not score up to 15 percent in any of the states in the southeast.
Another source at the Abuja meeting said the APC chieftains could not
however conclude deliberations on the ministerial appointments as it
was decided that stakeholders in the states and zonal levels should go
back to the areas to hold consultations on the matter.
It was resolved that the state chapters of the party would each
nominate three persons for ministerial consideration and are to submit
same to the party through the Vice Chairmen and Deputy National
Chairmen on or before Tuesday next week.
The source added that another meeting of the party leadership is
scheduled to hold on Tuesday where they hope to harmonize issues and
finalize discussions on the recommendations to be presented to the
National Executive Committees (NEC) of the party.
"While the President- elect, General Muhammadu Buhari had asked the
party to discuss the issue of ministerial appointments and to advise
him as appropriate, he has insisted on retaining the transition
committee list. Buhari had in choosing members of the transition
committee made sure that each of them is tested expert in the various
sectors where they will serve. He was said to be very conscious of
their level of integrity and honesty," added the source.
A top member of the APC who spoke to THISDAY last night on condition
of anonymity said: "All the positions said to have been shared are yet
to be firmed. Nothing can be confirmed until the final meeting next
week." He advised that all reports about sharing of positions should
be disregarded until next week when a final decision would be taken.
--Thisday
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