‘Reward performance’ — south-west group backs Abia rep’s speakership bid

Yoruba Youth Council (YYC), a south-west group, has backed the speakership bid of Benjamin Kalu, a member of the house of representatives.

Ayodele Gbologe, YCC national president, announced the group’s support for Kalu at a media conference in Abuja on Friday.

The group said the speakership position should be zoned to the south-east and that Kalu, who represents Bende federal constituency of Abia, should be considered.

The group asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) to “reward performance and jettison religion” by nominating Kalu for the number four seat in the country.

“Kalu’s relationship with the youth, accessibility and approachable personality are other traits that have endeared him to our group and as such, we endorse him for speaker house of representatives,” Gbologe said.

“The APC and all the political gladiators in Nigeria should jettison religion because religion is not in the constitution and not part of the party’s manifesto but rather zoning.”

The group also asked the ruling party to zone the senate presidency position to the north for “equity and justice”.

“Particularly, the position of the senate president should be micro-zoned to the north-west. This is based on the fact that the vice-president-elect is from the north-east and the national chairman (Abdullahi Adamu) of the party is from the north-central,” he said.

“Therefore, it is only the north-west that is currently vacant and left out of the sharing formula in the north.”