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Several weeks after the All Progressive congress (APC) dislodged the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in keenly contested elections, it is yet to agree on an acceptable zoning formula for the sharing of political positions at the executive and National Assembly levels.
This has led to speculations by the media and several theories on the party’s position have been offered.
Ordinarily, one expects that the party ought to have had its zoning formula or arrangement in place before the elections. So, the inability of the party’s national working committee and caucus to come up with an acceptable zoning formula weeks after it won the election, has led some political analysts to opine that that singular fact is holding the party down.
They also aver that the stalemate may spark rancour among party leaders as the jostle for positions in the 8th National Assembly has earnestly begun, with each zone strategising to grab juicy positions.
The elections had barely ended when the clamour for which zone should produce the office of senate president and deputy, speaker house of Representatives and deputy and other principal officers commenced, resulting in party leaders scheming and plotting against each other in the bid to clinch plum positions.
Checks by LEADERSHIP Weekend reveal that the issue of which zone will produce the two plum seats has already polarised the party.
While the north Central and north East are laying claim to the office of the senate president, the south west, which produced the vice president-elect, Prof. Yomi Osinbajo, is making a case for the speakership of the house of Representatives.
The north east argues that it is the most neglected zone and gave the highest votes to the party and should be considered, while the north central feels that its zone equally made valuable sacrifices for the electoral fortunes of the party and should be allotted the position as compensation.
The south east and south- south appear to be lost in the equation, especially in the zoning of offices in the National Assembly. The inability of the south east to produce a senator from the party at the March 28 National Assembly election altered the initial party arrangement of zoning the office of the senate president to the south east.
Still, there are fears and apprehensions that the APC, which is a merger of three political parties-All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance(APGA)-may not be able to manage its success at the polls, given divergent interests and its large size.
There are also concerns by some party leaders that if the current trend within the party, where every zone is campaigning for one position or the other is not halted, it may upset the party.
Of specific concern to the party leaders is the continued campaigning and lobbying for the office of the senate president and speaker of House of Representatives when the party has not made its official position public.
However, apparently disturbed by this development, LEADERSHIP Weekend reliably gathered that the president-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), may have directed the party leadership to suspend all deliberations on the zoning of parliamentary leadership positions till after the handover on May 29.
A high ranking party official hinted that the president-elect was worried over the dangerous dimension the tussle for leadership positions in the National Assembly was assuming.
He said the president-elect intervened to stop the scramble for party positions from degenerating into a crisis that could get out of control, and that underscores his concern over the matter.
The APC leadership has equally expressed worry over the development. For them, it is not just diversionary, but is also becoming embarrassing for the party because the manner in which some party leaders are going about it is just unpalatable.
“He is particularly disturbed about the direction the issue has taken. Aspirants are saying damaging things against one another in the media. For him, the most important thing is a successful handover on May 29.
“I think it is in that regard that he has counseled the leadership of the party to halt all debates or deliberations about the issue of zoning until the handover of government; then other things can follow,” the party official stated.
LEADERSHIP Weekend further learnt that General Buhari has advised the APC leadership to bring up the deliberation after the inauguration. There are unconfirmed reports that the decision to suspend the zoning of positions in the National Assembly came as the APC national leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, was said to have backed out of the move to make Senator George Akume the senate president of 8th senate.
Tinubu had been linked with moves to install Akume. However former governor of Kwara State and senate committee chairman on Environment, Sen Bukola Saraki and senator Ahmed Lawan, Yobe east are also eyeing the seat.
Meanwhile reacting to the contentious issue, former vice president and leader of the All Progressive Congress, Atiku Abubakar assured that the party will resolve the issue soon.
Atiku, in an interview with journalists in Abuja, had this to say on the zoning issue and the timeframe for its resolution: “That is too early; this is something the party and the leadership are handling. I believe it would be resolved before the House reconvenen.”
Also, the former APC presidential aspirant stated that the success of APC at the polls would be managed properly.
As Nigerians await the decision of the party, the question on the lips of political observers is: which geo political zone gets what, when and how?
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