Nominations in the 10th National Assembly are causing party turmoil. The vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima, aims to avoid all top officials being of the same faith for the upcoming administration.
The All Progressives Congress National Working Committee nominated Godswill Akpabio as Senate President and Abbas Tajudeen as House Speaker. However, the nominations are causing disagreement within the party, as others vying for leadership roles have rejected the party’s position.
However, Shettima, during a meeting with some members of the House of Representatives on Friday, urged them to accept the zoning arrangement of the All Progressives Congress for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly. In a quote, he said:
“The circumstances could validate the negative narrative of the Islamization agenda of Nigeria. The leadership of the forthcoming national assembly must be inclusive because the stability of the nation is much more important than any other consideration.
“What we are trying to avoid is a situation whereby the number one citizen, the number two citizen, the number three citizen, the number four citizen, and the number four citizen are all of the same faith. That will lend credence to and validate the negative narrative of the Islamisation agenda in Nigeria.
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This is why my principal, a fair-minded leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is more inclined towards having the number three citizen from the south or south-east. Even in the current circumstances that we find ourselves in, the stability of the nation is much more important than any other consideration.
“All other considerations have to be relegated to the background because we are talking about the stability of the nation. We are talking about inclusivity; we are talking about togetherness because nation-building is a continuous work in progress, and politics is about perception; it is about optics. I am quite glad that Benjamin Kalu will emerge as the deputy speaker. The hope for the black man rests with the people of this country,” the vice president-elect said.
