The Forum of Former Members of the House of Representatives has advised the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be tactful in resolving the issues surrounding the leadership of the 9th National Assembly and avoid a repeat of the 2015 sad episode.
The group, which draws its membership from the APC, stressed that failure to do that could cost the party so much in terms of executive/legislative relationship.
Addressing a news conference in Abuja yesterday, the spokesman of the forum, Hon. Idris Yahuza Yakubu, said that it was high time the party takes a decision on the zones where each of the principal officers should come from before it becomes too late.
While pledging to making themselves available to assist the party at all times, the former lawmakers believed that the party must be guided to toe the line of equity and fairness, suggesting that the cognate experience, party loyalty and acceptability among colleagues should be considered.
He said that considering the fact that the North West and South West already occupied the position of president and vice president, while the North East has been given the position of Senate president, the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives should go to the North Central zone.
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Yakubu said: “As the APC tries to consolidate on its recent successes, the party must not lose focus, but do all it can to stay on track by putting in place a structure that will support its programmes for improving on the lot of the people. The eye of the public and indeed the international community is on us to see if we can translate this victory into something tangible for the entire nation and more importantly, if we are able to put our acts together to create the enabling environment.
“The foundation for building a cohesive and united Nigeria stands on the tripod of equity, justice and fairness and this is where those of us who have been elected to the House of Representatives in the past who have seen how the different arms of government are run have decided to advise our beloved party on how best it can go about addressing the current agitations for geopolitical balancing in allocating the remaining top positions that would determine the shape of the next administration and engender a harmonious executive – legislature relationship for the good of the nation.
“You will recall that in 2015, the APC made the mistake of not paying enough attention in the election of the leadership of the National Assembly and how the party nearly paid dearly for it by having to constantly battle with a hostile legislature since its leaders were not products of the party’s internal democratic arrangement.
“The APC as the ruling party cannot afford to make that mistake again by leaving the choice of those to assume leadership positions in the National Assembly to chance. It is our strong view that the party must step forward to provide political direction to its elected members at the National Assembly by zoning all the leadership positions to the specific zones and where possible states,” he said.
