By Hon. Aliu Asipita AbdulMuluku
North-Central is the nexus that midwife's the other component units and regions of the Nigerian State. It is a historical role that it has always been famous for. It has become the melting pot of some sort, of the conglomeration of nationalities that define Nigeria as an entity. In North-Central is a representation of all that is Nigeria; our competing diversities. It is evident but curtailed. Yet, North-Central remains the most cosmopolitant region of Nigeria. This too is an open secret.
Politically speaking, North-Central has remained the stabilizer. It has played this role by being the bridge to our national unity on several occasions and fronts; ever heard of the famous 'handshake across the Niger?'. It is that strategic a region to our national unity.
The widely awaited zoning of the National Assembly leadership positions of the APC has come, but not without serious contestations. While some of the aspirants and zones have no serious reasons to challenge what the party has done, others do. The North-Central is one of those who do have a germain case to be critically attended to. It is a fundamental injustice that has been done to her. It needs to be addressed quickly, and justiceably too.
While some of us and some pundits had earlier advised the party not to toe the path of sharing or allocating the national Offices to zones based on the volume of votes cast for our Party and President-Elect in the last general election, we had insisted that the idea of national unity vis-a-vis competence should be the guide. But as it is obvious today, volume of votes has become a major criteria. In that wise, one wonders on what basis North-Central has not been aloted one of the four top positions of the National Assembly, to the extent that the North-West had two positions zoned to them. This is largely unfair, unjustifiable and unacceptable by all standards.
In terms of volume of votes delivered to the President-Elect and APC, the North-Central delivered the third largest volume of votes to our party. The region also delivered four out of the six States in the zone to the APC and our President-Elect. A casual look at the voting patterns of the States and Zones quickly reveals that North-Central deserves to be adequately rewarded for her loyalty and commitment to our President-Elect and Party. It gave the third largest volume of votes to Tinubu and the APC. See below;
How Each Zone voted for TINUBU.
•NORTH WEST: 2,652,235
•NORTH CENTRAL: 1,742,993
•NORTH EAST : 1,185,458
•SOUTH WEST : 2,279,407
•SOUTH SOUTH : 799,957
•SOUTH EAST : 127, 605
HOW THE ZONES CONTRIBUTED TO BOLA TINUBU'S EMERGENCE
Asiwaju Tinubu Got A Total Of Votes: 8.79 Million
-North West: 30.0%
-South West: 25.9%
-North Central: 20.0%
-North East: 13.5%
-South South: 9.10%
-South East: 1.45%
By whatever standard, we have delivered. It is on this premise that critical stakeholders of the zone i.e Governors, Senators, House of Representatives Members and party leaders have voiced out their vehement resistance to the sidelining and skewing against the North-Central in the scheme of things. This imbalance cannot be allowed to stand or become a precedent. We must explore all available party mechanisms to correct this anomaly. The attention of our dear President-Elect must be drawn quickly to this grave error done to his critical voting block.
It is no wonder that while the Senators of the North-Central have largely accepted the position of the party in the upper Chambers (especially the North-Central contestant for Senate President, Sen. Sanni Musa), the same cannot be said of the Members from the Region in the House of Representatives. The likes of Hon. Idris Wase, an outgoing Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, from Plateau state, and Hon. Yusuf Gagdi from the same Plateau State have refused to step down for the anointed candidate of the party. Looking at, and listening to their presentations, one can readily decipher that it is all a quest for justice, fairness and national balancing. Little wonder why they are still all over the place canversing for votes amongst their colleagues. Looking at the attendees to their invitations, one can easily see that the other Members of the House of Representatives are equally supporting their calls for justice, to zone one of the Offices to the North-Central. We hope it doesn't have to be done by their votes in June.
There is now a far and wider cry from various stakeholder who have alleged a lack of widespread consultations by the party before taking these critical conclusions on zoning. Notable amongst them are the Governors Forum, the Progressives Governors Forum, some notable Governors and other national leaders. On the basis of this, the likes of some interested Senators and House of Representative members have approached the Party headquarter to vent their frustration with the status quo. They have also made suggestions to the party on what needs to be done to avert an unhealthy outing for our party in June, during the proclamation of the National Assembly, and election of its principal Officers. Critical amongst their suggestions is the reevaluation of the zoning formular to accommodate the North-Central in particular. It is great to also note that the Party Chairman, along with the NWC, has promised to take a more critical look at the issues with a view to reviewing the status quo to accommodate all genuine interests raised.
While some uninformed interest groups, pundits and individuals have been quick to assert that the National Chairman of the APC is from North-Central, and for that reason, it has no claim to a national political Offices, one is in want to ask if they have forgotten that we are not talking about party administrative issues, but national governance. To what extent does the party Chairman have the capacity to make inputs on behalf of the people of the zone in issues that bother on their interests, like what their Senator or Rep Member who holds a principal position can do in the allocation of budgetary appropriation? Those who hold this view require more education and enlightenment in this direction obviously.
The North-Central was only lucky to have gotten the position of Party Chairman just like how the other zones of the country got other party positions, subject to negotiations or horse-trading. That the North-Central got or was zoned the Party Chairmanship position does not preclude it from getting one of the top six national political Offices of our nation in the incoming administration. One cannot be substituted for the other. They have no Constitutionally or administratively synchronized roles or function in our political system. How can its benefit or impact be adjudged to replace the other?. This position is highly unrealistic, mischievous and untenable.
The issues at hand demands that all attention is geared towards settling these agitated interests. Those skewed should be corrected and, those untenable placated with certain opportunities or promises. All these can be achieved via sincere consultations.
While our President-Elect is the National Leader of our party, the NWC deserves to brief him properly on all matters, do its due diligence in all matters of the party, and absorbs the President-Elect of any misgivings in any matter. The responsibility of this grave issue of concern rests squarely at the table of the National Chairman, the NWC and the Progressive Governors to resolve. This issue must not and cannot be waved away. June is by the corner. And North-Central is in the waiting for justice in this direction.
While our incoming President is away to refine his plans for Nigeria, conclude on the selection of his critical team players and interact with the global community prior to his swearing-in as the 16th President of Nigeria, our Party Chairman, H.E Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the NWC and the Governors must now put their heads together to resolve this knotty issue. We must ensure that our President-Elect set sail on a smooth note. And not on a rocky one. How we handle this critical issue will to a large extent determine that. As they say, 'A stitch in time saves nine.'
Hon. Aliu Asipita AbdulMuluku
Member, APC PCC 2023, ICC, and National Coordinator, TINUBU DOOR-2-DOOR AMBASSADORS TD-DA writes from Abuja
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