Abdulaziz Yari, senator-elect representing Zamfara west,
says it would be unfair to the northern part of the country if leaders of the
three arms of government are from the south.
Yari spoke in an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday.
The former Zamfara governor, who declared his bid for senate
presidency last month, has been one of the loudest critics of the zoning
arrangement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the leadership of the
10th national assembly.
The ruling party had nominated Godswill Akpabio and Jibrin
Barau as president of the senate and deputy senate president respectively.
Yari was one of the senators-elect who presented a “protest
letter” to the leadership of the APC over the zoning formula.
Commenting on his opposition to the party’s stance, Yari
said the move would mean the leaders of all three arms of the incoming
government are from the south.
Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, is from Lagos; Olukayode
Ariwoola, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), is from Oyo; and Akpabio is from Akwa
Ibom.
Yari said the APC’s zoning arrangement of legislature
leadership was not a product of widened consultation and consideration for
federal character.
“Right from the beginning, the party has a tradition of
widening the consultation: meeting with the president and all the members of
the national of assembly; because it is not the party’s business but that of
the country,” the senator-elect said.
“But the party did not do any of the above, and what we saw
in the media was that they had two meetings, and we were given names to adopt.
That is not adequate enough. Because all of them are just advisory bodies, the
constitution gives the right to choose national assembly leaders to only the
parliamentarians. The party can zone, but it is left for the individual to accept
or reject.
“APC has zoned and now we are asking them questions: On what
basis? Have you taken into cognizance the federal character? The president,
chief justice of the federation and national assembly chairman –all the three
arms of government — are in one place? The chief justice is from Oyo state,
Tinubu is from Lagos state, and Akpabio is from Akwa Ibom, all at the same
time. And the next chief justice is also going to be from the south-west.”
Yari added that the implication is that all three arms of
government will be controlled by the southern part of Nigeria, describing the
situation as lopsided.
If Akpabio is elected senate president, it will not be the
first time a region would produce the leaders of all arms of government.
Between 2019 and June 2022, three northerners — President Muhammadu Buhari (Katsina), Senate President Ahmad Lawan (Yobe) and Muhammad Tanko, former chief justice of Nigeria (Bauchi) — led the three arms of government.
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Mallam Yari. Did PMB observed federal character? Between 2019 till mid last year were u the north not control the three arms of gov?
ReplyDeleteAsk him again
DeleteTo be sincere, The man was just saying these because of his own interest. Did any of the Northern question PMB about the people he appointed
ReplyDeleteHahaha!
ReplyDeleteThe North can not tolerate what Buhari is doing to the South...
Let's wait and see more...