The amalgamation of the All Progressives Congress Northern Forums in Nigeria has urged the National Working Committee of the party to consider the North-Central geopolitical zone for the position of the Deputy President of the 10th National Assembly.
The groups said since the Senate and Deputy Senate President seats must be shared between the North and the South, the North-Central stood a better chance to produce a presiding officer of the Red Chamber.
The Coordinator of the Coalition, Habibu Salau, made the appeal, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday.
He said Senator Sani Musa, who is a ranking senator from the North-Central geopolitical zone, is eminently qualified to be elected either as the Senate President or Deputy.
Salau said, “If the leadership of the All Progressives Congress decided to zone the position to the South, the Deputy Senate President should automatically go to the North-Central.
“In fairness, the North-Central deserves to produce the next Senate President or Deputy because of the impressive performance of the APC in the zone in the last election going by the numbers of APC senators produced from different geopolitical zones.
“For instance, the South-West produced 15 out of 18; South-South had seven out of 18; South-East with six out of 15; North-Central got 10 out of 19; North-East, nine out of 18 and North-West, eight out of 21.”
The group added, “Aside from party politics, it is obvious that the South-West and North-Central senators-elect would determine the next presiding officers of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.
“The APC National Working Committee should therefore consider all these factors before embarking on the zoning arrangements for the next leadership of the 10th Senate.”
Meanwhile, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, had in a meeting with the lawmakers-elect said he had no preferred candidates for the leadership of both chambers who will constitute the 10th National Assembly.
Notable individuals who have shown interest in being President of the 10th Senate include Senators-elect Ali Ndume (Borno South), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Orji Uzoh Kalu (Abia), Jibrin Barau (Kano) and Mohammed Sani Musa (Niger), among others.
