As the lobbying and permutations towards the 9th assembly continues to gain momentum, the All Progressives Congress (APC) may likely zone the Senate presidency to the north while the speaker of the House of Representatives goes to the south.
Daily Trust reports that the ruling party has since the election garnered of lawmakers in both the upper and lower chamber of the National Assembly with 64 senators-elect and over 200 representatives-elect.
Also, in a bid to avoid the grave mistake the party made during the leadership contest at the 8th senate, some major stakeholders of the party are pushing for the Senate president’s seat to be zoned to the north. Sources says there are plans to zone the senate presidency to the northeast, and the position of speaker to the south, particularly southwest.
However, it was gathered that there is a push for the seat of the deputy senate president to be zoned to the south south, while the northwest or north central gets the position of deputy speaker.
Furthermore, three ranking senators from the northeast, Ahmad Lawan (Yobe), Ali Ndume (Borno) and Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Gombe) and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa, north central) are said to have indicated interest in occupying the seat.
For the speaker of the House, southwest lawmaker, Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos) and two others from the northeast – Mohammed Monguno (Borno) and Abdulrazak Namdas (Adamawa) – have indicated interest for the position while Ahmed Wase (Plateau) and Umar Bago (Niger) have indicated interest, with Babangida Ibrahim (Katsina northwest) also showing interest.
Also, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state is said to have indicated interest to vie for the seat of deputy senate president while Abdulrahman Sumaila and Aminu Suleiman, both from Kano state, have want to vie for the deputy speaker and speaker’s seats respectively.
