There are indications that the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, would release the zoning formula for the 10th National Assembly leadership immediately after the Ramadan fast.
The assertion was part of comments made by the Spokesperson of the 9th Senate and lawmaker, representing Osun Central Senatorial District, Senator Ajibola Basiru, while appearing on Sunrise Daily, on Channels Television, on Wednesday.
The zoning of the 10th Senate Presidency had been a case of back-and- forth entitlement between chieftains of the party from both the South-South and South-East.
The sections have insisted that in the spirit of fairness, the other geo-political regions should be given a sense of belonging in view of the Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket adopted by the party.
So far, the governing APC has the highest number of members-elect in both chambers of the National Assembly, and the lawmakers have started expressing interests for the Senate President and Speaker seats.
About eight senators have so far, indicated interest in the Senate Presidency seat, and Senators include 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.
The President-elect, Aiwaju Bola Tinubu and Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, alongside the Chairman of the Party, Adamu Abdullahi had earlier in March met with the lawmakers-elect and told them to focus on winning governorship election for the party.
The party also noted that another meeting would be called after the governorship election to lay before the lawmakers the zoning formula of the party.
However, a month after the conclusion of the governorship election, the party was yet to release the zoning or hold another meeting with the lawmakers.
This silence, however, has continued to heat up conversation and tension around the zoning of the 10th Assembly leadership seats or not.
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 added 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 election, amongst others.
His words, “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 noted that the APC National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee had not taken any decision yet on which of the six geo-political zones will produce the next Senate President.
He said, “I’m not aware 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 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.”