9th National Assembly and CAN’s permutation
In preparation towards the inauguration of 9th National Assembly, the ruling party with the majority members in the Senate and House of Representatives has tacitly zoned the leadership position to the North-East and South-West concurrently. Expectedly, Senator Lawan from Yobe is nominated as the Senate President, while Honourable Gbajabiamila from Lagos is the anointed party […]
In preparation towards the inauguration of 9th National Assembly, the ruling party with the majority members in the Senate and House of Representatives has tacitly zoned the leadership position to the North-East and South-West concurrently. Expectedly, Senator Lawan from Yobe is nominated as the Senate President, while Honourable Gbajabiamila from Lagos is the anointed party candidate for the speakership position. The APC gambling dice and political permutation is believed to be skewed in favour of two zones, the North East and the South-West which had produced principal executive officers in the government.
Political pundits of diverse blocs have advised the ruling party to turn their searchlight to other zone specifically North-Central for one of this prime position. However, given the speakership position to North-Central would be repetition of last political miscalculation in which all the leadership positions were concentrated in the North. Unfortunately, the South-East and South-South are not statistically relevant in the APC political manoeuvre since the anointed candidate Senator Akpabio has been technically defeated by the PDP candidate in the last election.
While all this political alliance and re-alliance is ongoing among the elected legislators of ruling party and the opposition who is scheming to repeat Senator Saraki political shenanigans of 2015 political treachery. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president pronouncement that the leadership position should be tilted in favour of Christians and that it should not be Muslim affairs alone is unfortunate. This is nothing but deliberate attempt to use religious sentiment to destabilize the 9th National Assembly at the conception stage. It is noted that whenever people or group lose relevance in Nigeria, they resort to religious bias to remain relevant.
Historically speaking, thrice consciously or unconsciously, the Christians have headed the two chambers of National Assembly without protest whatsoever from the Muslim umbrella body for religious balance of leadership. Neither did you see the Muslim group protesting at the removal of erring top civil servant, government officials or political appointees either deliberately by the ruling government out of political exigency or personal sentiment. At independence, when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe emerged as the President, the ceremonial Head of State, a fellow Christian Southerner, Dennis Osadebey 1960-1963 from Midwest (Edo/Delta) and Nwafor Orizu 1963-1966 an Ibo man were senate president respectively.
Similarly, in 1979 a coalition government was formed between National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and Nigeria’s Peoples Party (NPP) at the federal level due to NPN inability to muster the needed majority to control the National Assembly. An alliance that ensued led to the emergence of two Christian southerners (Joseph Wayas Senate President 1979-1983 from Cross River and Edwin Eme-Ezeoke, an Ibo man from the East 1979-1983) as the leaders of the National Assembly while the Vice-President was a Southerner and equally an Ibo man. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and other leaders like him Alhaji Aminu Kano and Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim never raised eye brow or queried the religiosity of the candidate or where they come from, knowing that this is a party internal affairs. In another instance, during the presidency of Yar’adua, a southern Christian Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was Vice-President, Senator David Mark and Mrs. Patricia Etteh were Senate President and Speaker respectively prior to the removal of madam speaker in what the political analyst term as “gender-discrimination” to assert the superiority of men over women.
Thus, CAN outcry about the incoming 9th National Assembly and its permutation of leadership distribution to favour Christian religion is nothing but hypocrisy and a recipe for national crisis. The lawmakers should not be tele guided by the external forces whose motive and inclination is detrimental to national interest.
Rotimi S. Bello, Abuja.