A group, Coalition for Good Governance and Economic Justice in Africa, has called on President-elect, Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC to cede the position of Senate President to the South-South geo-political zone
The call was made by Prince Kassim Afegbua, who doubles as Convener for South-South Senate Presidency, while addressing the journalists on Monday in Abuja on behalf of the coalition.
Afegbua said, “At this time, more than at any other time in our nation’s history, we believe that she must honour this ideal to preserve her unity and ensure stability. The last elections raised the temperature of the country, with ethnicity and religion becoming worrying sources of strife and bitter disagreements. While this is truly not an unusual development in the life of the nation, it is without a doubt that the norm-shattering Muslim-Muslim ticket of the victorious ruling party raised the stakes and triggered the historically-informed insecurities of several groups about hegemony and outright domination.
“It is, therefore, incumbent upon the next administration to take deliberate steps to assuage the fears of many and re-affirm its own commitment to fairness, social justice, and equitable distribution of power amongst the geopolitical zones. The President-Elect has justified his selection of a Muslim running mate as a practical choice informed by election victory calculations, not religious bigotry. He must now back the assurance with actions, beginning with the composition of the leadership of the National Assembly, specifically the Senate Presidency and Speakership which are the reasons for this press engagement.
According to the coalition, “The Senate President, being the third highest-ranking government official in the country, and one produced by an indirect election largely influenced and determined by the ruling party, is and has always been an opportunity to balance ethnic, regional, and religious concerns. The need for balancing that algorithms, is more compelling now, in view of our present history and shared commitment.
“It is the biggest indicator of every President and party’s sensitivity to national feelings, grievances, and inclinations. It sets the stage for how the administration would be perceived and projects the president’s own leadership style and moral strength, including his ability to organize, lead, and nudge the party in the direction of justice and other larger goals away from narrow, parochial interests. That is how important a decision it is.
“In this dispensation, under the prevailing circumstances, we strongly believe that the incoming president Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC can only satisfy the necessary need to balance ethnic, regional, and religious concerns by ceding the Senate Presidency and Speakership to other religions. In the light of this, we appeal to the leadership of the ruling party, the APC, and the President-elect to cede the Senate President to the South-South geopolitical zone.
Afegbua added, “The argument as to why it must be a member credibly subscribed to other faith is self-evident and requires no elaborate explanation or defence. With the incoming President and Vice President both Muslims in a country with compelling argument for balancing of all the factors and forces, it will only be reasonable and rational to allow other religions occupy the Senate President and Speakership positions. The interest of this group is for the Senate President to be zoned to the South-South. The South-South geopolitical zone occupies a very formidable and remarkable consideration as the treasure base of the country that ought to be accorded special recognition to compensate for all her sacrifices thus far. The economic importance of the zone and its strategic relevance to stabilising the politics of the nation, cannot be over-emphasised. In the last election, the ruling party, the APC, was able to make serious in-roads into the zone that has been under the threshold of the opposition PDP. Aside from winning Rivers State, the APC came second in the other five states, thus simplifying the requirement needed by the Presidential candidate to defeat his opponents.
“While many fair-minded actors agree in principle that the Senate Presidency must return to the South given the fact that the incumbent is from the North, similar to the Vice President-elect; and with the South West out of the contest given that it is the home of the President-Elect, there are those who have made a case for the South East based on the region’s perpetual cry of marginalization and the need to balance the power equation. But what the South-East desires is the presidency of the country, anything short of that, is a slap on their face, moreso that the zone had occupied the seat of senate president on five occasions, for eight years, and deputy senate president position for 12 years, in the last 24 years of our fledgling democracy. In the minds of those who make the argument, to pacify the South, is to indulge the South East and to heed its call for a sense of belonging.
..South East has enjoyed unique privilege in 24 years
The coalition noted that the South East has had its fair share of headship of the National Assembly.
Afegbua said, “Let me re-emphasise that in the last 24 years, the South East has enjoyed the unique privilege of producing the Senate President on five different occasions. Senators Enwerem, Okadigbo, Wabara, Anyim, and Nnamani, all of whom held sway as the Presidents of the Senate in the present fourth republic are all from the South East. If you include the additional stretch of 12 years during which the South East also held the Deputy Senate President position, that amounts to a near total control of that arm of government, and a more than earned political compensation.
“Moreover, considering that the contributions of each region to the victory of the ruling party is also a significant factor in the power-sharing tussle, as there would be no power to share without electoral triumph; it is just as important to scrutinize the numbers the South East gave to the APC in the presidential election.
“Indeed, whilst Senators from the region who are angling for the Senate President position manage to secure convincing victory in their various senatorial districts, with some of them pulling thousands of votes, the President-Elect was only able to claim a negligible figure, even though both contest, (the Senatorial and Presidential) held on the same day and followed the same process. This points to a possible conspiracy in which the Senators from the Eastern extraction happily traded away the President-Elect’s chances to secure their own victories. If this is the case, as the evidence suggests, it exposes a sore lack of belief in the President-Elect and a most damaging act of self-preservation.
“Contrary to this, the South South region stood firm and contributed a significant percentage of votes to the President-Elect’s victory. The APC came first in Rivers State and claimed over 45% of the total number of votes in the other five states. This is despite the historic status of the region as an opposition stronghold. The members of the party from the South South displayed a high sense of duty and loyalty to the party, canvassing votes not just for their individual positions but equally for the President-Elect. Indeed, without their outstanding show of belief, the President-Elect may have well faltered in achieving the mandatory 25% spread in the two-thirds of states of the Federation.
“With the foregoing, it would be an act of injustice to accord privilege to the South East over the South South for the Senate Presidency. It would amount to the party giving one of its biggest prizes to a geopolitical zone that contributed the least to its victory. The import of this to members in the future would be that a sense of entitlement and heavy investments in emotional appeal is all a region needs to score big in the post-election scramble for power, not results at the polls. This is damaging for any party with future plans to maintain its hold on power.
“To conclude, it is clear that going by Nigeria’s history, its constitutional and moral obligation to ensure social justice and equitable representation of the sociocultural groups and geo-political zones that make up the country, as well as recent political perks and privileges enjoyed by each region; the most deserving region for the Senate Presidency is the South South geo-political zone. To open his administration on a positive and optimistic note, the President-Elect must lead the party in this direction.”
