The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, has opted to zone the Majority Leader of the 8th House to the North-West geo-political zone, a move that goes against the June 23 directive of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
He noted that the zone had 86 APC lawmakers.
In a letter he addressed to Odigie-Oyegun on July 16, he also proposed to zone the post of Deputy House Leader to the North-Central with 33 members, while he zoned the position of Chief Whip to the South-South.
Dogara proposed that the Deputy Whip should come from the South-East.
The letter reiterated the speaker’s long-standing argument that the principal offices in the House should go round the six geo-political zones of the country.
Against the earlier proposal of the party’s leadership that the South-West Should produce the Majority Leader, Dogara said the zone already had the deputy speaker.
He added that it would not be fair to give the same zone the position of House leader while some zones had nothing.
Dogara used the same explanation for zoning the deputy whip to South-East instead of North-East proposed by the party.
He explained that he could not take action on Odigie-Oyegun’s letter immediately or reply him because he was constrained by a court process served on him by some lawmakers from the North-Central and other interested parties.
The speaker added that this was the reason he wanted to call for a close-door session to brief members on the development on June 25, but that his action were misinterpreted, leading to a fracas on the floor of the House.
Part of the letter reads, “Since then, efforts have been made by the party, progressive governors and other interested persons to intervene and resolve the issues.
“We want to place on record, our unflinching loyalty and respect not only to you as an individual, considering your antecedents, but also to the party, APC, under whose platform we were elected to the House.
“We have no intention whatsoever of disobeying your directives or the party’s position on any matter. We would, of course, prefer a situation where we are consulted on matters concerning the House before directives are issued and made public.
“We feel strongly, that the issue of federal character in the election or appointment of principal officers of the House is a cardinal legal, moral and constitutional principle that should be respected by our party. It is however obvious from the letter under reference that this principle was not taken into consideration.
“If the letter (Odigie-Oyegun’s) is enforced the way it was conveyed, it will lead to the following unjust result, Speaker, North East; Chief Whip, North East; Deputy Speaker, South West; House Leader, South West; Deputy House Leader, North West; and Deputy Chief Whip, South South.
“This will totally and unfairly exclude the South East and North Central Zones in the distribution of these political offices and lead to undue concentration of some offices in the South West and North East Zones of Nigeria.”
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