Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors are set to dump consensus for zoning in the election of principal officers of the 10th National Assembly.
The decision was reached during the meeting between Tinubu and the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) members.
The meeting was held at the Defence House in Abuja, on Thursday.
Zoning Over Consensus
An inside source told The Punch that the governors suggested that the National Assembly principal offices should be zoned.
Basically, they were not comfortable with picking consensus candidates for the positions.
According to the source, Tinubu agreed with the suggestion of the governors.
To him, the party should not settle for consensus candidates for the National Assembly leadership positions.
The source says, the party maintains that, just as the president-elect emerged through a democratic process, the leadership of the National Assembly should follow the same route.
Fresh Battles
“At the meeting, the party, as always, was very careful of the religion and ethnic balance to avoid fresh battles.
“The governors advised the president-elect to allow the leadership of the National Assembly to follow normal protocol without anointing any candidate.
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“The governors also told him that just like President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t choose a consensus candidate, he should let democracy have its way in the leadership of the party.”
Choice Of Leadership
The source notes that Tinubu agreed to this.
Tinubu assured the party that the zoning and choice of the candidate would be properly deliberated upon.
According to him, this deliberation will be between the party and the lawmakers.
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“The president-elect also assured the governors that the choice of the leadership of the 10th Assembly would involve the party and the lawmakers.”
