By Charles Adingupu
One of the beneficiaries of the scramble for leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Hon Benjamin Kalu has warned of grave consequences if the South-east zone is denied a place in the leadership of the legislature.
Hon Kalu who is the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the post of the Deputy Speaker in the soon-to-be-inaugurated House, was justifying the party’s decision to cede the position to the South-east geopolitical zone
The lawmaker representing Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State, said the APC should include the zone in the scheme of things now in order not to get another poor turnout of votes from the zone in 2027.
He said that APC will not get a favourable result from the South East in the next elections if the zone is ignored in the 10th NASS Leadership.
“When you talk about nation building, you forget about sentiments, you forget about emotions and look at the strongest argument, and the strongest argument here is how do we make a diversity sensitive leadership, nation-building effort that will incorporate all the beautiful efforts of all the diverse part of the country coming together to work for what we peach? It’s by unity, peace and progress,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
“You may recall that in the last four years, the South-East was not holding any of the presiding officers’ position, and it has impacted on this election, among other things.
“I can assure you, if you neglect South-East again, a whole zone in such sensitive position, then you battle again in 2027, that is a big risk for any great planner to take.
“If you start now to plan and adopt this spirit of inclusion, South-east is going to yield a better harvest than what was yielded before,” he stated
In the recent zoning arrangement announced by the APC for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Godswill Akpabio from the South-South was picked for Senate President and Barau Jibrin from the North-West was picked for the Deputy Senate President.
For the House of Representatives, the party picked Tajudeen Abbas from the North-West for the Speakership position to be deputized by Kalu from the South-East.
However, the APC zoning arrangement has not gone down well with many lawmakers, especially those from the North-central who feel the zone has been ignored in the whole arrangement.
