COVER
NASS Leadership: APC Admits Mistake, to Revisit Zoning Arrangement
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.
By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
As part of efforts to reposition the newspaper for optimum corporate performance, the management of Asset Newspapers Limited, Publishers of DAILY ASSET, has announced the appointment of David Torough as the Editor of the Abuja-based national daily.
A statement by the management said the appointments were part of the company’s new strategy to further penetrate the various states in the country and raise its readership and patronage.
“DAILY ASSET is widely acceptable across the country and to maintain our leadership position, we need to increase management presence, hence the need to create new Bureau offices in some locations outside Abuja and Lagos,” the statement quoted the Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief, Dr Cletus Akwaya to have said.
In a statement yesterday, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the fast-growing daily, Dr. Cletus Akwaya said the appointment was part of the new strategy to properly situate the paper for better productivity.
“DAILY ASSET has a commitment with the Nigerian people. We are determined to weather the storm and give Nigerian readers a Newspaper that satisfies their yearnings and reading pleasure and we can only do that with the right set of professionals,” the statement said.
Akwaya, a former Commissioner of Information from Benue State said the difficult times being faced by Nigerians posed a great challenge to the media as the people deserved credible information with which to make choices.
“We have a bond with the people, to offer credible information at all times in the best tradition of the Nigerian Press and on this scale of objectivity, truth and fairness, we pledge to remain steadfast no matter the challenges,” Akwaya was quoted to have said.
He said the newspaper will maiantin its daily print run and circulation to all states of the federation and urged advertisers to take advantage of the deep penetration of the Daily Asset brand to send their messages.
Torough, the new Editor has had a steady rise in the Newspaper in the last five years.
A graduate of Mass communication of the Benue State University, Makurdi, Torough joined the company in 2022 as Benue State Correspondent. He was spotted for his brilliance and redeployed to Abuja the following year and promoted to Deputy News Editor. He was subswuently named Deputy Editor of the paper, a position he held until the recent appointment.
Torough has attended several journalistic workshops and trainings to properly equip himself for the task ahead.
The statement also said the Management named Eze Okechukwu as Deputy Editor.
Before his elevation as Deputy Editor, Eze has been Deputy Politics Editor and DAILY ASSET Newspaper correspondent covering the Senate, having joined the organization in 2021.
Born on March 10, 1975, Eze holds a Masters Degree in Mass Communication from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Eze began his journalism career with Daily Star, Enugu and later worked with Daily Trust Newspaper, Abuja as sports reporter.
Aside from his journalistic excellence, he has a great deal of passion for sports.
From Ngutor Dekera, Kaduna and Aliyu Askira, Kano
Northern governors and traditional rulers yesterday called for the suspension of mining activities across the region for six months, blaming illegal mining for worsening insecurity in many states.The resolution was contained in a communiqué issued after a joint meeting of the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council held at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna.
The meeting, chaired by the Gombe State Governor and NSGF Chairman, Muhammadu Yahaya, had in attendance the 19 northern governors and chairmen of the 19 states’ traditional councils. The Forum expressed concern over the escalating violence in parts of the North, including the killings and abductions recently recorded in Kebbi, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kano states, as well as renewed Boko Haram attacks in Borno and Yobe.“The Forum extends its deepest condolences and solidarity to the governments and good people of the affected states,” the communiqué said, noting that the attacks on schoolchildren and other citizens had become “unacceptable tragedies” that required urgent collective action.It commended President Bola Tinubu for what it described as the Federal Government’s “firm response” to recent abductions and insurgency threats, especially the rescue of some abducted pupils.The governors also saluted security agencies for their sacrifices on the frontlines.“We resolved to renew our support for every step taken by the President and Commander-in-Chief to take the fight to insurgents’ enclaves in order to end the criminality,” the Forum stated.A major highlight of the meeting was the North’s renewed push for the establishment of state police, with governors and traditional rulers insisting that decentralised policing had become inevitable.“The Forum reaffirms its wholehearted support and commitment to the establishment of state police,” the communiqué added, urging federal and state lawmakers from the region to “expedite action for its actualisation.”On illegal mining, the governors said criminal mining networks were fuelling violence and providing resources for armed groups.As a corrective measure, they asked Tinubu to direct the Minister of Solid Minerals to impose a six-month suspension of mining activities in order to allow for a full audit and revalidation of licences.“The Forum observed that illegal mining has become a major contributory factor to the security crises in Northern Nigeria. “We strongly recommend a suspension of mining exploration for six months to allow proper audit and to arrest the menace of artisanal illegal mining,” it said.To strengthen the fight against insecurity, the governors also announced the creation of a regional Security Trust Fund.Under the proposed arrangement, each state and its local governments will contribute ₦1bn monthly, to be deducted at source under an agreed framework.They said the fund would help provide sustainable financing for joint operations, intelligence-driven interventions and coordinated security responses across the region.At the end of the meeting, the Forum reaffirmed its commitment to unity and collective responsibility.“Only through unity, peer review and cooperation can we overcome the pressing challenges before us,” it declared.The Forum agreed to reconvene on a date to be announced.Meanwhile, Nigeria’s worsening security crisis took a grim turn on Monday as bandits launched fresh attacks in Kano State, abducting 25 villagers, even as the Federal Government raced to secure the release of more than 300 Catholic school children kidnapped in Niger State.In the early hours of Monday, armed bandits invaded Unguwar Tsamiya—popularly called Dabawa—in Shanono Local Government Area of Kano State, whisking away nine men and two women after shooting into the air and assaulting residents. The attackers also rustled two cows.A resident lamented the community’s helplessness: “We cannot do otherwise; most of us cannot leave because we have nowhere to go. This is our place, our land and everything is here.”The assault came less than 24 hours after a similar attack on Yan Kamaye in Tsanyawa LGA, a community along the volatile Katsina border.In Niger State, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has assured distraught families of St. Mary’s Co-Education School, Kontagora that the more than 300 students and staff abducted on November 21 will return home “soon.” Ribadu, who led a high-level federal delegation to the school on Monday, said the abductees are safe, though he offered no specifics on their location or the status of rescue operations.According to Daniel Atori, spokesman for the Catholic bishop overseeing the school, the NSA reassured officials: “The children are where they are and will come back safely.”The St. Mary’s attack is part of a worrying resurgence of mass kidnappings reminiscent of the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction. Security analysts warn that banditry has evolved into a “structured, profit-seeking industry,” with hundreds of Nigerians abducted in November alone.The Kontagora school abduction occurred the same week 25 girls were kidnapped in Kebbi State—victims who authorities say have since been rescued through “non-kinetic” means. About 50 of the St. Mary’s hostages have also managed to escape.Ribadu’s delegation, which included the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), reaffirmed the government’s commitment to securing the freedom of all abducted citizens.As communities from Kano to Niger continue to bear the brunt of these violent incursions, the escalating spate of kidnappings underscores the urgent national demand for a more decisive and coordinated security response.
By David Torough, Abuja
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said former Attorney‑General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, will face a team of interrogators at its office daily throughout December.A credible source in the EFCC said on Monday that the daily appearance was part of an ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of an alleged 490 million dollars Abacha loot secured through a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLAT) request.
The source said that Malami, who was summoned for interrogation by the EFCC on Saturday, was barred from leaving Nigeria for the next one month.According to the source, one of the conditions for his release on Saturday was that he should report daily to the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation.The source said Malami would have to appear daily at the anti-graft office due to the volume of the investigation and the seriousness of the charges against him.”We seized his passport, it is the normal routine during investigation, but he has to report at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja every day for the next month.”He will be reporting for further investigation throughout December.”He will be reporting every day, starting from Dec. 1st to Dec. 31st.He will appear before the team of investigators for the entire month of December.”He will be reporting to EFCC for investigation for the period because of the volume of the investigation and the seriousness of the charges against him,” the source added.According to the source, a fact sheet on the former minister revealed that Malami had several issues to clarify with the EFCC within the coming weeks.“We have asked him to explain the whereabouts of the $490 million Abacha loot secured through MLAT.“We didn’t say he stole money, but he should account for the loot. This is one of the issues he will clarify to our investigators.”The commission cited the large volume of documents he must review and the need for extensive interviews as reasons for seizing his passport.The source said EFCC would not engage in a war of words but would release its findings after a thorough investigation.Malami, in a statement by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, on Monday in Abuja, however, described the EFCC investigation as a political witch‑hunt.He confirmed he honored an EFCC invitation on Nov. 28, describing the engagement as fruitful and expressing confidence that the probe would vindicate him.Malami described the EFCC’s allegations as baseless, illogical and devoid of substance, insisting they collapse under factual scrutiny.
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