Pro-democracy civil society groups in Nigeria have condemned the alleged action of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the issue of zoning.
The coalition also condemned the alleged role of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, in the zoning of the Speaker of the 10th National Assembly.
The CSOs claimed that the imposition of leaders was nothing but the coronation of some individuals who would not necessarily earn the acceptance of their colleagues.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the convener of the groups, Dauda Yakubu, said: “We are shocked to read reports that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has come up with a zoning template and even went further to rub salt on injury by attaching names to the positions of principal officers—Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and all other offices of the National Assembly.
“It is on record that the APC kicked against such an arrangement in the past, describing it as a hijack of democracy. It is, therefore, ironic that the persons in APC who rejected the imposition of leadership on the National Assembly are either ominously quiet now or are the ones undermining our democratic tenets.”
The group lamented that Gbajabiamila’s alleged emergence as the President-elect, Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, would lead to a rubber-stamp National Assembly.
He added: “A rubber-stamp National Assembly is precisely what the country does not need currently, bearing in mind the extent of reform-oriented legislation and oversight that is needed in the months and years ahead.
“Nigerians need a parliament that they can hold accountable, not one that answers to kingmakers.”