Ben Kalu, the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the role of Deputy Speaker in the yet-to-be-inaugurated 10th National Assembly has justified the party’s decision to cede the position to the South-East geopolitical zone.
The lawmaker representing Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State is of the opinion that the APC should include South-East in the scheme of things now in order not to get another poor turnout of votes from the zone in 2027.
‘When you talk about nation building you forget about sentiments, you forget about emotions and look at the strongest argument and the strongest argument here is how do we make a diversity sensitive leadership, nation-building effort that will incorporate all the beautiful efforts of all the diverse part of the country coming together to work for what we peach? It’s by unity, peace, and progress,‘ he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, programme which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York.
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He added; ‘You may recall that in the last four years, the South-East was not holding any of the presiding officers’ position and it has impacted on this election, among other things. I can assure you, if you neglect South-East again, a whole zone in such sensitive position, then you battle again in 2027, that is a big risk for any great planner to take.
‘If you start now to plan and adopt this spirit of inclusion, South-East is going to yield a better harvest than what was yielded before,’ he stated.
In the recent zoning arrangement announced by the APC for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Godswill Akpabio from the South-South was picked for Senate President and Barau Jibrin from the North-West was picked for the Deputy Senate President.
For the House of Representatives, the party picked Tajudeen Abbas from the North-West for the Speakership position to be deputized by Kalu from the South-East.
However, the APC zoning arrangement has not gone down well with many lawmakers, especially those from the North-Central who feel the zone has been ignored in the whole arrangement.