By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu has charged the National Working Committee (NWC) of All Progressive Congress (APC) to consider inclusivity and fairness in distribution of leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
Kalu made this plea when he spoke during a protest visit to the APC leadership, in company of other senators who are aspiring for the position of Senate President on June 13 election of 10th Senate President.
Explaining why APC did not perform well in the South East zone of the party, Kalu said “Vote is not a measurement. We had a hurricane in our zone. We need one another and not the level of votes cast.
“Those who did not vote for the party today can vote for the party tomorrow if they are properly aligned. After all, we have made progress. Before we used to be one or two senators, but it is no longer so. This thing did not only happen in the Southeast.
“Many people from areas where the presidential candidates came from, voted along certain lines. I appeal to you people that you must cede something very reasonable to the South East.”
Kalu said what happened was that there was a presidential candidate from the southeast and the entire people of the area decided in a certain direction, adding “if we look at the election, it was not only in the Southeast that things happened, every part of the country had problems with voting.”
He expressed joy that the National Chairman, the Deputy National Chairman, the National Secretary are former senators, saying “they (senators) can promise you everything and you know we are going to do a secret ballot on the floor of the senate. So, it is better we settle properly as 59 senators of the APC.”
“What you have done (zoning formula) does not look very nice. It is undemocratic, it is unconstitutional to put people’s names. The party should go back to the drawing board and rezone, not by name but by zones.
“It will not be right for our party, being a very big party, to be doing something that is unconstitutional. I believe all the 109 senators elected have what it takes to be Senate President. There is nobody that has been elected that cannot be Senate President”, Kalu said.
