APC dismisses reports on 10th NASS leadership, says no zoning yet.

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked reports circulating on social media regarding zoning arrangements for leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly.

The party stated that it has not yet made any decisions on the matter and will communicate its position through its official information channels.

APC spokesperson, Felix Morka, who issued the debunked the reports in a statement on Thursday, April 27, urged the public to disregard the information as it did not originate from the party.

He stressed that the party was yet to zone any leadership positions for the 10th National Assembly.

Multiple online reports had it yesterday that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, had in a meeting with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some National Assembly members, rejected proposals for the Senate Presidency to be zoned to the South-South of the country.

Some of the reports stated that the former Lagos state governor expressed his preference for having the number three office zoned to the South and not to any particular zone.

Tinubu, according to the reports, argued that since APC members stood for the zoning of the presidency to the South and not to any of the three zones in the area, which produced him as presidential candidate and President-elect, it was wrong to propose zoning the post of Senate President to only the South-South.

He was said to have suggested that zoning the post to the South would give all qualified aspirants from the South-East and South-South the opportunity to participate in a fair contest, just like APC delegates picked the presidential candidate of the party prior to the election.

According to the reports, the President-elect emphasised his preference for fairness, equity, religion and regional balancing as his benchmark for the constitution of the National Assembly leadership.

Those eyeing the position include Jibrin Barau (Kano North); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom North-West); Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North); Abdul-Aziz Yari (Zamfara West); Sani Musa (Niger East); Ali Ndume (Borno South), Osita Izunaso (Imo West), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi South) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North).

Parts of the statement released by Morka, titled, ‘APC has yet to zone 10th National Assembly leadership positions, read, “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to versions of zoning arrangements for the 10th National Assembly leadership positions in circulation in sections of social media. The information did not emanate from the Party and should be disregarded.

“To be clear, the Party has yet to zone positions of leadership of the 10th National Assembly. Any decisions made in that regard will be duly communicated via the Party’s official information channels.”

Meanwhile, the former Minster for Information and leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has called on Tinubu and his party to zone the Senate presidency to the South-South in the interest of equity and fairness.

(c) International Centre For Investigative Reporting (ICIR).