By Akinwale Kasali
Senator Ajibola Bashiru, Senate Spokesperson for has disclosed that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, may likely release the Zoning Formula for the Senate Presidency after the Muslim fasting, Ramadan.
Senator Basiru made this known on Wednesday when he appeared on Sunrise Daily, a telecast on Channels Television.
Party chieftains in the South-South and South-East had called for the zoning of the Senate President to their region.
Not less than Eight Senators have shown interest in becoming the Senate President. They include: Senators Jibrin Barau (Kano Central), Sani Musa (Niger East), Orji Kalu (Abia North), and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa-Ibom North-West ).
Others are Senators Osita Izunaso (Imo West), Patrick Ndubueze (Imo North), Abdul’Aziz Yari (Zamfara West), and Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), amongst others.
There have been a lot of permutations on where the Senate Presidency would be zoned to.
Reacting, Senator Basiru said, “I believe that our party will ultimately take a decision on the zoning, possibly after Ramadan and certainly before June when the next Assembly will be convoked.”
He noted that beyond tribe and religion, there were other parameters that should be considered in the choice of the National Assembly leadership such as ranking, competence, capacity, and zonal contribution to the victory of Bola Tinubu in the February 25 Presidential poll, amongst others.
He said, “It will be in the best interest of our party to zone the offices so that we can narrow the number of contestants because when you have eight persons from a single political party contesting, it creates a problem for us to have a cohesive force going into the election.”
Basiru also added that the APC National Working Committee and the party’s National Executive Committee had not taken any decision yet on which of the six geopolitical zones will produce the next Senate President.
He said, “I’m not aware that the NWC of our party has taken a position on the issue of zoning and where the zoning will be done.
“I’m not aware that the NEC of our party has taken any decision but party leaders will be making a lot of permutations to ensure a seamless relationship between the executive and the legislative arms.”
However, while not a few people think the office should go to the South-east, others insist that Presidential-elect, Bola Tinubu, performed badly in the South-east during the Presidential election. Many are, however, agreed that the office should not go to a Muslim, considering the fact that both the President-elect and the Vice President-elect are Muslims.
