Youth Wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has decried the exclusion of the South East geopolitical zone in the proposed zoning of principal officers of the 9th Session of the National Assembly.
The Deputy National Leader of the wing, Dr. Kingsley Dozie stated this while speaking to newsmen in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, cautioning the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against going on with the proposal.
Dozie was reacting to the party’s endorsement of Senator Ahmed Lawan (North East) and Femi Gbajamila (South West) for Senate president and House speaker respectively which has the backing of the Presidency.
His words, “It dose not portend well for the political stability and development of Nigeria that the zone is not in the consideration of the APC administration for any principal office in the Assembly leadership”.
According to him, since the President and Vice President come from the North, and West respectively, ” justice and equity demand that either the Senate President or the Speaker should come from South East “.
Dozie further argued that since the APC has already zoned the Senate Presidency to North East and the Deputy President to South South respectively, the South East should be allowed to produce the Speaker.
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“If they say there is no ranking senator from the party in the zone, will they also say we don’t have qualified APC members in the House of Representatives where one of their members was returned for the fourth term, ” he asked.
The leader argued that since the county is seen as standing on a tripod of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba any arrangements that excludes any of the stands will learns towards disequilibrium in the age-long political system or order.
He said that “Nigeria stands on the tripod of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba “, hence the distribution of political offices “should reflect this equilibrium without excluding the minorities also.”
According to Dozie, who wedded last weekend in the capital, “”We are not slaves and can never be. Nigeria belongs to us all as equal parners no matter where we come from. This is a fact everybody must learn to respect and live with “.
Some of the dignitaries at his wedding ceremony included the National President of Ohanaeze, Chief Nnia Nwodo; the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; and Senator Theodore Orji.
Others were and the Deputy Senate President, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, who was represented in proxy, Senators Hope Uzodinma, Mao Ohuabunwa and host of other members of the organisation and political leaders from the zone.
