By Gift Chapi-Odekina
Following the recent endorsement of principal officers in the 10th National Assembly by the All Progressive Congress, (APC) the Ondo state Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has faulted the arguments being canvassed by some traducers that the North East geopolitical zone cannot produce the Speaker for the 10th House of Representatives.
Recall that the proponents of such arguments had postulated that a frontline and leading aspirant in the race, Rep. Mukhtar Aliyu Betara should not be in the contest because his zone produced the vice president.
However, such proponents in their biased and jaundiced views failed to acknowledge that the fact that the current Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila who is from the South West geopolitical zone emerged as Speaker despite the fact that the incumbent Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo also hailed from the same South West region.
Akeredolu while stressing the need for fairness and equity on the part of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the zoning template for the next Speaker of the House, faulted the arguments being canvassed against the North East, describing as “insidious permutation”.
Akeredolu in a statement he personally issued on Wednesday said there was need for equity, justice and fairness in the zoning arrangements by the party.
He said: “It is an insidious permutation that North-East will be deprived in the face of the unsavoury generosity dispensed through two slots to a particular geo-political zone. It is self-repudiating for one to argue, therefore, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives cannot also emerge from the North-East.”
Akeredolu, who doubles as the chairman of the South West Governors Forum (SGF), described the zoning arrangement as a skewed one that reinforced injustice and enhanced inequity.
The governor specifically wondered why a political zone would be favoured with two slots at the instance of others in the “permutation” carried out by the ruling party.
Akeredolu said the intentions and motives of the zoning formula already represented early signs of steps aimed to tackle the hard-earned presidency seat for Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
