The controversy trailing the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoning formula for the position of presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly is yet to abate, as youths drawn from the North Central have said the region would not settle for anything less.
The youths, under the aegis of the North Central Youths Stakeholders Forum and North Central Youths Stakeholders Forum and the Middle Belt Forum, specifically said the region would only accept the Senate Presidency and Speakership of the House of Representatives.
In a statement, the Leader of the NCYSF, Mohammed A Mohammed, said the groups were behind the decision reached at the recent meeting held by governors of the region and National Assembly members-elect, not to accept the decision of the party.
Mohammed contended that the APC zoning arrangement was a deliberate attempt to undermine the contributions of the North-Central to the survival of the party and its victory at the February 25th general elections and subsequent polls.
He said: “We find it unbecoming that other regions that performed abysmally at the polls are given preference in zoning arrangement of the APC NWC while relegating the North Central which contributed optimally to the victory of the APC and its Presidential Candidate would be literally denied any principal position in the coming National Assembly.
“It is all the more insulting that even to consider the North Central for the third position in the legislative houses is subject of debate and speculation.
“In the light of this, we wish to invite the intervention of all stakeholders in the APC to impress on the NWC of the party and all those behind this agenda to rescind, withdraw, review and reverse this unpopular decision and in the alternative, allow the elected federal legislators to form their leadership.”
He called on the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to stand on the side of truth and justice by supporting the North Central.
“We call on the incoming President to do all he could to reclaim his statesmanship by supporting what clearly is the popular will of the people against those who want to subvert it.
It does not gladden anyone to think that the relegation of the North Central after the central role it played in the emergence of the coming administration in spite of all the odds, is calculated to diminish the rising political relevance of the region.
“For the avoidance of doubt therefore, and for those who have ears to hear, the North Central would never settle for any other position lower than the Senate Presidency and Speakership of the House of Representatives,” he said.
