A Nigerian senator, Ifeanyi Ubah, has criticized President-elect Bola Tinubu and the Congress of all progressives (APC) for their participation in the zoning of leadership positions in the National Assembly.
Mr. Ubah, who represents the Anambra Southern District in the Senate, spoke when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Monday night.
The senator has won re-election in the recently concluded general elections.
Newslodge reported that the CPA’s National Labor Committee on Monday ratified the zoning formula for National Assembly posts proposed by Mr. Tinubu.
The president-elect had chosen the former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio (South-South) and Barau Jibrin (North-West) for Senate President and Senate Vice President respectively.
He also endorsed Tajudeen Abbas (North-West) and Ben Kalu (South-East) as Speaker and Vice President respectively.
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Ubah, a member of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), said the president-elect should not have meddled in the internal affairs of the Senate.
The senator also said that Tinubu and his party did not properly consult with other elected senators when making the decision to zone assembly leadership positions.
“You don’t just force these things (leadership positions) on independent people. There must be a proper consultation. I think that the ruling party (APC) was wrong.
“Nobody has anything against the president-elect, but he (Tinubu) shouldn’t have been a part of this in the first place. He shouldn’t have gotten into this so quickly,” Ubah said.
Senate Presidency: ‘Southeast is being marginalized’
Mr. Ubah also criticized the APC’s zoning of the Senate presidency’s position to the South-South, insisting that the Southeast region deserves the position.
He said that the region should be represented in the leadership of the country considering that the president-elect comes from the Southwest and his vice-president-elect from the Northeast.
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“We need the Senate president job to balance the equation,” he said.
The YPP senator said the South-Eastern caucus in the Senate was not consulted before the APC zoned the leadership positions in the 10th Senate.
He argued that the Southeast was being marginalized in the distribution of leadership positions in the country, adding that there are capable elected senators from the region who can lead the 10th Senate.
He named Senate leader Orji Kalu and former APC National Organization Secretary Osita Izunaso among the region’s elected senators capable of leading the Red Chamber.
He said the region’s senators-elect will meet to decide on the choice of a candidate for the post before the inauguration of the 10th Senate in June.
“For me and our people in the South East, we are still very strong in the competition for the position of president of the senate of Nigeria for the 10th senate. That is our position for now,” he said, when asked if the region would drop its ambition to preside over the Senate after the APC divided it into South-South zones.
Ubah said members of the southeast caucus in the Senate would meet to discuss the APC’s decision and report back to the region on its resolution.
“But for now, as I am still in this study, the position of the South East caucus is that we are going to run for the position of president of the Nigerian Senate. The position of the Presidency of the Senate should be zoned to the southeast or zoned equally to the south.
“The only problem we have is the consultation. If there was a robust consultation among the people of the South by the ruling party, perhaps we could have said that we will give it back to the South-South. But there was no consultation. It’s like they’re saying there’s nothing you can do,” he stated.