9th NASS: Denying S’East Senate President will Lead to Renewed Agitation in The Region – Bello
The convener of Project for National Accommodation, as well as an activist and advocate for peaceful coexistence, Osaretin Bello, supports the Southeast for the position of Senate President, Igbere TV reports.
Although he hails from the South-south, he said in the interest of peace, justice and fairness, the Southeast should be considered first for the position.
He argued: “I don’t see any reason the Southeast particularly would not be accommodated in this government because if you see the outcome of the elections, there is significant improvement from the 2015 in 2019 in terms of voter demography. However, the Southeast deserves a principal position. Like the South-south, they are being accommodated by being given the chairmanship position, the Southwest has the vice president, the Northwest has the president.
“The Northeast has the SGF. These are principal positions and, of course, the Northeast as well has the Speaker. So, there is nothing bad if the Southeast is being compensated with the position of Senate President.
“We have people who are credible from the area. The Southeast was left out in 2015 because they never had a senator elected on the platform of the APC, but now we have senators elected on the platform of the APC.
“We have Rochas Okorocha; we have Orji Uzor Kalu, who is a ranking parliamentarian. Mind you, he was in the House of Representatives before. So, this time around, there are no excuses. The Southeast rightly deserves that position of the Senate President.
“Not giving it to them will lead to a lot of agitations and disharmony. It will look as if a certain party or characters of persons are not needed in a given political space. And I don’t think that is good for our democracy. Democracy is all encompassing. We must have the open hand to accommodate all and sundry. In politics, you work from the position of strength to the position of weakness and we use that as a bait to bring everybody to the centre.
“Mark you, the Southeast holds the economic nerve of this country. They have contributed a lot and in 2015, most of these actors that I have just mentioned were not there. Now that they are on board, what are we talking about? They must be carried along.”
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