By Jude Opara, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday admitted that it may have erred in the manner in the handling of zoning of the principal positions in the forthcoming 10th National Assembly.

Consequently, the party assured that the burning issue which has forced most of the lawmakers-elect from both chambers of the National Assembly to openly threaten to go against the zoning arrangement of the ruling party would be revisited in no distant time.

National Chairman of the APC, Sen. Abdulahi Adamu gave the assurance when he received some of the aggrieved senators, who had indicated their interest to contest for leadership positions in the upper chambers.

Adamu told the trio of Senators Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara West), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North) and Sani Musa (Niger East), who presented a joint position paper to him that as leader of the party, he has taken responsibility for whatever misgivings that followed the zoning arrangement which zones the Senate President seat specifically to Sen. Godswill Akpabio (South South), the Deputy Senate President was to Sen. Jubril Barau (North West) while the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives was zones to Tajudeen Abass (North West) and Deputy Speaker went to Benjamin Kalu (South East).

“As Chairman of the APC and members of the National Working Committee (NWC), we take responsibility. As Chairman, I take responsibility for what has gone on air. I don’t have to share with you how it got to be shared. I take absolute responsibility for that.  Yesterday, we received members of the lower chamber who are also contesting for the speakership in the lower chamber and we had similar pronouncements – words of disagreement from them.

“Yes there was no sufficient or adequate consultations with you who are contesting and it is simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions. But, the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire.

“We must as democrats open up. So when NWC was very clear, yes we have received with respect, the outcome of the meeting with party leaders, comprising leadership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the party, the NWC. We will go back to the drawing board. We owe our party that duty to take a look whether what was done cannot be changed; what was done needs some changes or reviews. We will take a look at what necessary compelled us to do by the grace of God.

“Hold the fire until the last word is heard from us. We are the custodians of the party as NWC but we are not acting alone. The voice of the President-elect is an essential voice. We must accommodate him, the best we can. I will not compromise on that. So, he is right now outside the country and by the grace of God when he comes back we will go back to the drawing board and put ours heads together again and see what we will get. I cannot preempt that, I will wait until we hold that meeting with Mr President-elect, the same team that we had the same meeting with. If we need to enlarge the committee we will do so we will be better informed through contributions that will be made.

“We will go through your memo, line by line and ensure that we are able to capture the spirit of your presentation and see what will be the best way out of the situation we have. Whatever you heard is the art of human endeavour and we are not perfect as human beings. We can make mistakes. So, if we find in the course of further consultations the mistakes that need to be looked at, we will look at them”.

On the issue of the North Central who was curiously left empty handed, Adamu who is also from the zone said; “I remain tongue tied talking about North Central. Your argument is extremely plausible. I assure you, we will take a look at along what has been given to the public”.

Earlier, Sen. Yari said since the North West have the APC the highest number of votes, the region should be given the opportunity to produce the next Senate President.

The former governor of Zamfara state further warned the party to remember that the party would like to win another election in 2027, warning that if they don’t get a fair deal from the ruling party, the North would be forced to “take a decision”.

So, Mr Chairman, we had been in this game and we understand it very well and it is about the dialogue. We are saying that party supremacy and we are looking at the election we won in 2023 and the next election is 2027 and it depends on how we play the part.

“The President-elect got 63.4 percent of the northern extraction. Where he came from the south he got 36.6 percent. Atiku Abubakar from Northern Nigeria got 68.8 percent of the total vote and he got from the Southern Nigeria 33.2 percent. So, now if there is anyone who can say we own APC; we own the President-elect in the Northern Nigeria. Without undermining any part of the country. They have given their best and we can understand their situation but justice need to be done. We should not be blinded that the power of anyone is not absolute but only God is absolute. We should not look at these four years as 20 years and then we are going into another election.

“So Mr. chairman we are not undermining what you are doing but we are doing this for the sake of this party to grow and we are doing for the best interest of the party because where we are talking today, if we from the North take another decision, it will not be good to all of us and it will become history which we don’t want that to happen. And only if we do justice that will protect that from happening but we should all pick our pen today and write it which is 11th May, anything from the contrary walahi the Northern Nigeria will take another decision”.

On his own part, the Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu said that the party should do whatever it takes to make the country remain in peace. He added that what will being a lasting peace is equity and fairness.

Kalu also said that emphasis should not be laid mainly on the zones that produced the highest number of votes, stating that even in the South East, the APC is gradually making inroads which he stated will improve if the party encourages the zone.

“What I want to say is that the country need to live in peace. We need to live as people that have worked together for many years. And in doing this, vote should not count on what you get most times. Enmity should not also count in what one gets most times.

“President Obasanjo became president with votes from other Nigerians other than his constituency. So, what I am saying is vote should not the right measurement because what you did not do today, you can do it tomorrow.

“We had a hurricane in our zone that nobody could have stopped it. President Buhari had 29.9 per cent in Abia in 2019. He had 68.7 per cent in Abia North Senatorial District. We are still very proud of what we did for him. I insist that vote must not count because we need one another. The Binding of one another is more important than vote cast. Yes, vote cast is important to help the party to win. But the party has won and we need peace and everybody on board. Those are the novels for the party today can vote for the party tomorrow, if we are properly aligned.

“It should not be an issue and we cannot only count our success by vote, after all in our zone, we use to be only two or three Senators but today we are about six or seven APC Senators from the zone.

“I want to appeal to the NWC that giving every part of the country a piece of the cake makes the country safe and for  people to feel that they are Nigerians and I have been at the vanguard of calling for Nigeria unity for over 40 years in my life and I have been in politics. I am not disputing that  Northern Nigeria did not give the vote, but there is a time in this country that the Eastern Nigeria were voting for other party.

“I appeal to you people to cede something reasonable and valuable to the South East . We are going to rebuild the party and the most important thing is starting earlier. Four years is like four days and it is like going back for election in the next few years. And give us opportunity to rebuild this great party”.

Kalu further said that micro-zoning positions to individuals is not acceptable to them.

“So, we are going to challenge it. We are going to say no to it.  I am a party man, I am a believer of the party and I have never disobeyed this party. This is first time we are going to say no to the directive of the party. We are going to says that we are not going to do this in the floor of the Senate.

“This is not acceptable to us. I will not want to do it and I will not want to disrespect the party. And it is still early enough about 18 to 19 days to resolve it. It will be better that the party returns to the drawing board, deliberate and call a consultative meeting.

You have to review the zoning arrangement and correct micro-zoning the positions to individuals. It must be done by zone not name because it contradicts all the relevant sections of the Constitution I have quoted.

“It will not be right for a big national party like ours to perpetrate what is unconstitutional. We want you people to do what will be in agreement with the Constitution. Mr. Chairman doesn’t forget that all the 109 senators are capable of being a Senate President. There is no one elected there that is not competent enough to be a Senate President.

“I urge you people to go for further consultations and know the direction this party will go so that we can have peace in the country built in tripods like Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. You should ignore the excuses about number of votes.

“There is no need that we start disobeying the party on June 13 on the flour of the Senate. It will very good we agree. We must be in agreement and I am happy that the National Chairman, the Deputy National Chairman (North), the National Secretary are senators.

“They can promise you everything, but you know that we are going to do secret ballot in the senate. We will vote according to our conscience. You people have done it before and we will do what you have done in the past. We will do it again”.

In his own contribution, Sen. Sani Musa said the party must always insist in doing things right. He argued that since both the President-elect and the Vice president-elect are Muslims, that it was only equitable for the Senate President to be a Christian.

“Whenever we see anything that is not right, it is only fair if we are good followers to bring it to the table and when they said the national chairman is inviting us for this, I agreed.

“I am standing here in my own corner as a distinguished senator, who is also aspiring and also, I am here to speak in respect of my distinguished colleagues, Senators-elect from the north central geopolitical zone of this country.

“When I made my declaration, I said, looking at the secularity of this country and looking at the permutations when we took risk (same faith ticket) and we were successful. There are certain times we should not push our luck. I said, we have competent distinguished Senators-elect from anywhere. That is, because we have a Muslim President. We have a Muslim vice President and we thought that at least the third person should be a Christian.

“As we are going, I had expected that the party will look at those who are very few, I think four or five of us declared interest. And I taught in the wisdom of the party, they will invite just those five of us which they can manage. If you can manage us like this after a decision has been proposed, decision have been reached, it would have been easier if you sat us before that proposed decision was issued and said there can only be one leader and we are first among equals. But the party didn’t do that. The NWC had a meeting with Mr President-elect. I respect Mr President-elect, he is a tactical politician. He knows it. He knows every inch of it. He will be able to listen to whatever an organ like ABC will bring to him. Whatever anyone will tell him. He will want to aggregate his own views.

Musa also frowned at the decision to ignore the North Central while the North West was given  both the Speaker and the Deputy Senate President positions.

“Our geographical settings have become like institutions. You cannot give positions to individuals.

“I would have expected my brothers from the North West to stand against this template and say let us toe the line we have been towing since 1999. This injustice needs to be corrected. We have five of six governors. 11 out of 19 senators. We will however make sure that no party takes our chance inside that chamber. It is going to be an APC affair”.

The other member of the group, Sen. Osita Izunaso (Imo West) was unable to attend the meeting because he was said to have traveled to Owerri with Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.