Presidency yet to decide on N/Assembly leadership positions

The Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have not taken any decision on the zoning of the positions of presiding officers of the 9th Assembly, Daily Trust has reliably gathered yesterday.

Our correspondent reports that there have been speculations that the positions of the presiding officers have been zoned to the northeast and south-west geo-political zones.

It was reported that the Senate presidency and the position of the speaker of the House of Representatives have been zoned to the northeast and southwest geo-political zones, respectively.

A reliable presidency source, however, said President Muhammadu Buhari has not taken any decision, regarding the composition of the leadership of the next assembly.

“There is no decision yet on the zoning of the position of presiding officers of the National Assembly,” the source who craved for anonymity said.

The source said the president would soon meet with the leadership of the APC to take a decision. He said the president would consider the input of the party, before arriving at the final decision.

“Any decision that is taken would be clearly communicated to all members of the parliament who are of the APC. All these speculations would be laid to rest when that’s done,” he said.

The source said arrangements are being made to forestall a repeat of the 2015 episode, whereby Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara connived with opposition lawmakers to emerge as Senate president and speaker, respectively.

In 2015, the party had zoned the Senate presidency and speaker’s position to northeast and southwest respectively. Saraki from north-central and Dogara who is from northeast defied the party’s position.

The reported key contenders for the Senate presidency are Ali Ndume (Borno), Ahmad Lawan (Yobe), Danjuma Goje (Gombe) and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa).

Those said to be eyeing the speaker’s position are Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos), Ahmed Idris Wase (Plateau), Babangida Ibrahim (Katsina), Mohammed Tahir Monguno (Borno), Abdulrazak Namdas (Adamawa) and Umar Bago (Niger).