Why S’East deserves Speaker, Senate president seats, by Kalu

Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, said it would be just and fair to cede either the seat of the Senate president or the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the South East.

The lawmaker, representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, noted that the inability of the zone to overwhelmingly support the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, during the presidential poll and other elective seats cannot be used as yardstick to exclude the region from producing either the Speaker or the Senate president.
 
He expressed optimism that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would zone either the office of the Speaker or Senate president to the South East.
He said: “I can assure you that what Nigerians are looking for is how to bridge the gap in diversity insensitivity. If we pretend we don’t know that diversity insensitivity exists, then we are living a lie. We need inclusiveness. Politics of zoning is one of those tools to achieve that.”

He recalled that the last time the South East produced the Speaker was 40 years ago, when Edwin Ume Ezeoke oversaw the lower legislative chamber between 1979 and 1983.

On why he is in the race for the speakership seat alongside his kinsman, Orji Uzor Kalu, who is also vying for the seat of the Senate president, he said: “Good hunters go hunting with more than one spear so that if he misses the target of one of the spears, he would use the other spear. I don’t think my aspiration would impede his aspiration. We are all working to achieve the same goal.”