A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former commissioner for works in Kano State, Mu’azu Magaji, has warned that the APC may lose its strong support base of the North-west geological zone if the party did not zone the office of the senate president to the region.
Mr Magaji on Saturday called on the APC leadership to select the senate president from Kano to sustain its support base for the party in the region in the face of other opposition parties wanting to take control.
Mr Magaji dismissed a call by the spokesperson of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Abdulmumin Jibrin, who protested against the zoning of the seat of the senate president to the northwest region.
The NNPP spokesperson told Channels Television on Wednesday that using the 1999 template, the next senate president should be from the South-east region and that a Muslim from the North-west region should not be allowed to assume the office of the next senate president
But Mr Magaji said such a comment from the NNPP was a disservice to the nation and an attempt by the NNPP to dominate the region in the absence of strong APC personalities from the region.
“The APC despite the votes it had contributed to the election of Bola Tinubu, has only one senator from Kano that is Barau Jibril, and any mistake of not making him the senate president would affect the strength and control of the region by the party.
“The NNPP’s call was deliberately geared towards seizing control of the region by disallowing the APC from having a strong political leadership like the senate president from the region under the APC.
“We are calling on the APC leadership to ensure that Senator Barau Jibrin becomes the next senate president to form a rallying point for the party in the North-west in particular and the North at large, Mr Magaji said.
In the 25 February presidential election, the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, got his highest number of votes from the North-west region.
In the North-west, Mr Tinubu polled 2,653,235
In the South-west the APC candidate also polled 2,279,407
In the South-east Mr Tinubu manage and got 127,605 votes
In the South-south he polled – 799,957
In the North-east, Mr Tinubu polled 1,185,458 votes
In the North-central Mr Tinubu polled 1,670,091 votes.
