Why APC should zone senate president, Reps’ speakership seats to South East, Christians by Ndoma-Egba

Former Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) has offered an insight as to why the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) should zone the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives seats to the South East and northern part of the country.

Ndoma-Egba spoke on Arise News Morning programme monitored in Abuja yesterday and said it would be in the best interest of the country if both offices are ceded only to Christians.

Warning that a Muslim -Muslim national Assembly leadership could throw the country into chaos, he called for the adoption of the 1999 template which saw the emergence of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives from the South East and North West geopolitical zones of the country.

The Cross River-born politician maintained that his position was in tandem with the provision of the 1999 constitution as amended.

He said: “Let me say that there are three perspectives to this issue, the first is the Constitution; the second is history, the third is precedent and if you permit me, let me read directly from the Constitution because I want to put it verbatim. Section 14 of the 1999 constitution says in sub-section 1 “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a state based on the principle of democracy and social justice”.

“But the crucial one is sub-section 3 “The composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the government or in any of its agencies”.

“Now the principle enunciated in section 14 is the elevated principle of inclusiveness, of social justice, of equity. Like I said I was the secretary of the campaign planning directorate of the presidential planning committee. I was out there in the field and one of the major issues we had to contend with was the issue of the same faith ticket of our presidential candidate then and the vice presidential candidate. It was a major issue for us Christians, it was a major issue for us Southerners.

“Now we have just survived one anxiety. By the grace of God, we won. We should not willingly or unwittingly create another anxiety. We may not survive it. It may consume us. The constitution is very, very clear. It must be inclusive. Every section, ethnicity, and religion must be accommodated in the governance of this country, in the opportunities and resources of this country.

“Having said so, we have a Muslim president-elect from the south, a Muslim vice president-elect from the northeast. I have given a little background on the Constitution, so, let me go into history.

“This current democracy I used to refer to it as episodes because we used to expect military interventions every now and then but I think it has come to stay. It is no longer an episode, so I will refer to it as this democracy.

“It started in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo from the southwest was first elected, a senate president and they came in a very quick succession if you will recall, were all from the southeast; from Sen. Evans Ewemrem to Sen. Chuba Okadigbo, to Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, to Sen. Adolphus Wabara, to Sen. Ken Nnamani, it was never an issue. How many of them from the southeast became president. At a point I joked to the late Sen. Arthur Nzeribe that at the rate we were going, every senator from the Southeast was going to taste the senate presidency because they were all from the Southeast.

“There was a national consensus on that issue. So, each time any of them slipped on the legendary banana peel, they looked for a replacement from the southeast. In fact, it got to a point when I came to the 5th Senate in 2003, where a first-time senator against the rules of the senate, Sen. Ken Nnamani had to assume the senate presidency but it wasn’t an issue because everybody believed that the circumstances were unusual and that it was still the turn of the south-east.

“After President Olusegun Obasanjo, we had President Umaru Yaradua, may God rest his soul and he was from the North West, Sen. David Mark was senate president from the North-central.
When President Yar’Adua passed on, his vice president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from the south south continued where he stopped. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was seen as an extension of the administration of President Umaru Yaradua.

“And don’t forget the constitutional crisis that we almost got into that necessitated the doctrine of necessity to enable President Goodluck Jonathan to assume the mantle-ship of state. And because of the very peculiar situation, the country was rumbling politically, it was decided that David Mark should continue because that government was essentially an extension of Umaru Yaradua’s presidency. So David Mark’s case especially after President Yaradua died was unusual.

“After President Yar’Adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan, we had President Buhari. The Senate presidency remained in the North because what we have always had is that if you have the president from the North, the vice president will be from the South, and the Senate presidency will be in the North.
So, if you had a Southern president, you had a Southern senate president and vice visa; if you had a Northern president, you have a Northern senate president.
When President Buhari assumed office against the run of play to which Dr Bukola Saraki emerged as senate president but he was from the north-central, the north was eligible to produce a senate president. The only zone that couldn’t produce was the northwest because that was where the president is from but the northeast and the north-central were eligible to produce. And after Dr Bukola Saraki, we have Dr Ahmed Lawan from the northeast.

“So, we are not reinventing the wheel. We started with President Olusegun from the southwest, we had the southeast presidency; we have had that history, we have had that precedence, and we are not reinventing the wheel. The important thing to do is to zone it to the south-east and I use this opportunity to just appeal to my northern Muslim brothers who are interested in the leadership of the senate to recuse themselves from this race in the interest of the unity of this country and in the spirit of section 14, subsection 3 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended.

“Section 50 of the constitution creates the office of the senate president and it says the senate shall elect from amongst themselves who shall be senate president. I am not a serving senator so I am not eligible to vote.
But I think my duty, having been the leader of the senate, first deputy leader in the 6th senate and later on, the leader in the 7th senate, so I was in leadership for two out of my three terms in the senate; to remind ourselves of the history, of the precedence.

“I know that Osita Izunaso was in the House of Reps, he was also in the Senate when I was there, one time before he left to become a national organizing secretary of the APC and I heard he is returning to the Senate. You also have Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, who was also in the House of Reps at some point. He has been in the Senate, I think this is his second term, he is a principal officer, both of them are eligible, and they are ranking senators. I don’t have any particular candidate but I just believed that we must stick to the principles of equity, fairness and justice.”

Ndoma-Egba appealed to the aspirants of the juicy positions in the north to withdraw their ambitions and make the necessary sacrifices for the unity of the country.

“Our Muslim brothers from the north should take it because they can. It is not a question of might. It is a question of justice. It is a question of equity and each and every one of them has a stake in the survival of this country. If that is the sacrifice they must make to keep this country one, it is not beyond them to make that sacrifice.

“When we had a southwest president, we had a senate president from the southeast. There was a situation you also asked about in the House of Reps, I believe that the speakership of the House of Reps, it’s my personal opinion should go to the north. It should go to a northern Christian because you have a president and vice presidents who are Muslims.
So, for the interest of justice, we should just leave the legislature to the Christians just to man. For the senate president, I am very clear in my mind that it should go to the southeast; for the speakership, it should go to a northern Christian”, he said.