Johnson Ayantunji 
Indications have emerged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), may zone the Senate president to the South East, even as the leadership of the 10th National Assembly will emerge by consensus. This was the kernel of the meeting which the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had last week with all newly elected members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Sources close to those who attended the meeting confided in Sunday Telegraph, that the chairman of the Party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, called the meeting in order to avoid the pitfall of 2015, and to elect the leaders, who will be agreeable to all and not to be cornered like it was done in 2015, when the party’s choice for the speaker was defeated by the candidate of the speaker of the Seventh House – Aminu Tambuwal, in the person of Yakubu Dogara. Our Source said: “There will be an agreement by the party and the choice of the party will be supported by all unlike in 2015, when the party’s supposed choice Gbajabiamila, was defeated and Tambuwal had the upper hand. It is the same with the current Senate President – (Ahmed) Lawan. There was a major friction. This is what the party wants to avoid.
“They actually asked a man from Kano, who said that the party should consider a zonal rearrangement which will favour the North West, as well as somebody from the South East, who will be acceptable to all. “Various groups from within the party, apart from angling for positions in the next dispensation, also said that the party should avoid pitfalls of 2015, which has refused to go away.” It would be recalled that Senator Bukola Saraki, against all odds, emerged as the Senate President after he went into an alliance with his former party members then (PDP), who voted massively for him and Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President. This led to a serious rift with the presidency, despite the fact that APC had the majority in both the Senate and the House. The president did not have it easy with the National Assembly despite the fact that it had the majority in both chambers. Both Saraki and Dogara with others later defected from APC and joined forces with the PDP. Another source said: “They were asked to go for further consultation and the choice will be by consensus.
Even other leaders, such as the Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker, Senate and House Leaders and whips of both Chambers. The advantage goes to those who are ranking members.” Furthermore, Sunday Telegraph gathered that in doing this, APC has the task of balancing the positions to reflect that it is not in favour of a particular faith. “Right now, the leadership of the party will also have to prove that it is religious faith sensitive. Remember how it battled the same faith ticket of the president and his running mate. The national chairman too as well as the Deputy National Chairman, who are all Muslims. They should be seen not to be pandering to a particular religion,” our source said.