ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Ahead of the election of principal officers of the 10th national assembly, the Abia State governorship flagbearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), at the just-concluded 2023 general election, Prof Greg Ibe, has decried the zoning formula recently announced by the National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The APC had endorsed Godswill Akpabio as Senate President and Jibrin Barau as the Deputy. On the other hand, Abbas Tajudeen was endorsed for the House of Representatives Speaker and Ben Kalu as his Deputy.
Earlier, Ibe, who is also the convener of the World Igbo Summit Group (WISG), described the zoning formula as totally discriminatory and a manifestation of the non-inclusive stance of the party against the South-East.
Ibe’s opinion is contained in a press release issued on Thursday by Rev Sleek, his Director of Communication and Strategy.
Rejecting the zoning arrangements by the APC, he maintained that if the party goes ahead to implement the zoning arrangements as announced, it will continue to sustain the narrow-minded apartheid policy it introduced against the South-East region during the present Buhari-led administration.
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He said: “The attention of the leadership of World Igbo Summit Group has been drawn to a purported zoning formula by the ruling APC for principal officers of the 10th national assembly which from every indication encourages the promotion of a punitive culture of discrimination and marginalization against the southeast.
“By wilfully marginalizing the southeast whole zoning the offices of President, Vice President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President and House of Representatives speaker, APC is simply advancing the parochial agenda of exclusion which was introduced through President Buhari propagation of the ’97 and 5 percent dichotomy and the ‘dot’ in a circle stigmatization.”
Ibe called for outright rejection of the zoning formula, saying it will further polarize the nation through divisive policies which tend to discourage inclusiveness, equity and fairness.