An All Progressives Congress chieftain and ex-senatorial aspirant for Abia North district, Chief Onyekachi Iheme, has expressed dismay over continued marginalization of the South East zone in the ongoing sharing of principal offices for the coming ninth National Assembly.
DAILY POST had reported that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has adopted the House leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, as its candidate for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly.
This position was reached after an intensive deliberation with the party’s House of Representatives members-elect at a dinner with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Iheme, while reacting in a telephone interview with DAILY POST on Thursday morning, said, “What played out was an endorsement by a caucus. So, it is a state politics as usual. The party’s position is, they are not imposing anybody on the national assembly members. We are still pushing, we are still appealing to our party members, who are in the Senate and House of Representatives to see that equity, justice and fairness prevail.
“So, it is wrong to say that the party(APC) has decided on Femi Gbajamiala. Our party, the APC is built on equity and fairness. The South East zone has a right to agitate for what is rightly theirs, which is having principal offices in the national assembly as it is zoned. If you look at the way it is structured today, you will agree with me. The President from the north-west, the Senate President goes to the northeast, and then, it is only natural that the Speaker should come from the Southeast.
“It is a right request. It is in the interest of justice and fairness, and we are standing by it. We are just asking the leadership of the party to give us fair consideration and see that a Southeastern person occupy the post of speaker of the Federal House of Representatives in the incoming ninth Assembly.”
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