Senator-elect: Excluding north-central from n’assembly leadership positions irrational

Aliyu Wadada, a senator-elect from Nasarawa, says it’s irrational for the north-central geo-political zone to be excluded from the zoning arrangement of the 10th national assembly leadership.

Wadada spoke on Friday at the climax of induction organised for lawmakers-elect.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had nominated Tajudeen Abbas, a member of the house of representatives, and Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, as candidates for the speaker and president of the senate.

The ruling party also picked Barau Jibrin, senator representing Kano north, as deputy senate president, and Benjamin Kalu, current house spokesperson, as deputy speaker.

However, some party stakeholders and aspirants in the national assembly leadership race have protested against the selection of the four candidates.

Wadada, who is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said the north-central caucus in the national assembly will ensure that the geo-political zone gets the position it deserves in the ranks of presiding officers of the legislature.

“We want either the position of the deputy senate president or speaker of the house of representatives,” he said.

”We don’t want to rock the boat. What we said is that if for some reason, the position of deputy senate president that we have always canvased for will not be conceded to us as a zone, then we should be given the speakership position.

”This is because we can’t be left empty-handed. It is not fair, it is not just, it is not rational. There is nothing right about it, for a single geopolitical zone to have two presiding officers, while another zone, like north-central, remains empty.

“We will always strive and ensure we get what belongs to us or what we deserve.

“We had a press briefing where we clearly stated our position — our governors met with aspirants of north-central extraction. We had a discussion, efforts are really on to see that north-central gets what it deserves.”

Wadada is the senator-elect to represent Nasawara west senatorial district.