By Hamza Waziri
Four years after, the North Central States, particularly Niger State, have not been able to get over the hangover of their decision to endorse Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan as the Senate President of the 9th Assembly and Hon. Femi Gbajabimiala as the Speaker of that Assembly, despite having candidates from the region!
The then Niger State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, ( APC) Engineer Jibril Imam, told reporters after a meeting convened by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello in Government House Minna, the state capital, that the state has decided to throw its weight behind Femi Gbajabiamila for Speakership and Ahmed Lawan for the Senate President, dashing Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago’s hope of getting some support from home to be the Speaker of the 9th Assembly!
According to the state party chairman, they feared a repeat of the 8th National Assembly’s leadership crisis, when candidates who were not the party’s choices took those coveted offices. So, as loyal party men, they had resolved to toe the position of the party at the National level by endorsing the duo of Lawan and Gbajabiamila.
“Our experience in the 8th Assembly is not palatable and it has slowed down our progress in the last 4 years and we don’t want a repeat of that,” Imam emphasized.
However, a lot of Nigerlites who were not happy with the decision of the party were optimistic that besides the reason advanced by the party for supporting nonindigenes, they might have negotiated well with the National Body to ensure that if the state could not get two ministers, at least we should be compensated with a senior minister in one of the key ministries of the federation, other important appointments to parastatals and agencies, reconstruction of large numbers of federal roads in the state, completion of Baro port, railways, and other infrastructural developments
But to the utter disappointment of Nigerlites, Niger State was left out in the scheme of things, as no federal projects were brought to the state, and not even the imaginary commissioning of the Baro Port came to life. We are still left to make do with a state minister and other crumbs of appointment – what a bummer to a state that gave so many votes to the ruling party, more than any state from the entire South!
Politics is who gets what, when, where, and how. It is important to note that Niger State has always given votes to the party at the center, from time immemorial, and our dues have always been given to us adequately but with the advent of APC, we have been relegated to the back burner in the scheme of things, the state is only needed to either add numbers or for votes.
Even today, after giving overwhelming votes to APC, it seems the powers that be have decided that North Central is not fit for any leadership positions in the National Assembly, not even the deputy of any of the presiding officers of the assembly, and we did not get even a vice president slot except that of the national chairman of the party, but to what effect?
As some political analysts opined, in Nigeria, the President then the Senate President, and the Speaker, together with their deputies, are the major people who can facilitate projects for a particular state or region.
They argued that President Muhammadu Buhari has attracted projects to Northwest up to even Maradi in neighboring Niger Republic, while the Senate President and the Speaker, Sen. Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabimiala influenced appointments and projects to Northeast and Southwest respectively.
The analysts alluded that the establishment of the Northeast Commission to fast-track the development of the region was through the influence of the Senate President, while the Speaker had a fair share of the credit for the development of the Southwest, and wondered why even the Southeast which all but abandoned APC in the last three general elections got more federal government’s attention than the North Central.
They added that the North Central has not enjoyed even the kind of security apparatuses that were deployed to the other regions despite enormous suffering from the activities of bandits.
They asserted that for equity, justice, fairness, and peace, North Central merits being allotted either Speakership or a Deputy Senate slot but not just a national party chairman’s office which has not translated to peace and development in the region.They commended Senator Sani Musa 313, the senator representing Niger East ( Zone B) for relaxing his ambition to contest for the seat of senate president just because he is of the same faith as the President-elect and vice president-elect, despite his efforts and that of the Niger State Governor-elect, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago in delivering the state to the president-elect, Sen. Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
The pundits expected the All Progressives Congress ( APC) to reward Sen. Sani 313 by picking him as the deputy senate president for these efforts and for dropping his ambition for the sake of equity, peace, and unity of the country. More important was the need to recompense the North Central for its loyalty to the National Body, as undue interference from the party and the executive into the matters of the National Assembly usually makes members defy the party’s order and contest the election just as Hon. Aliyu Betara, the current House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, from Borno State, insisted he would be contesting for the office of the speaker of the 10th House of Representatives, ahead of the June 5 inauguration even as he accused Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila of sponsoring an unpopular candidate to succeed him, despite having an array of top ranking members to choose from.
Political pundits admonish leaders of the North Central states to put their acts together and earnestly demand peace and development of the region for the betterment of all.
Hamza Waziri, a political analyst, and public commentator writes from Minna.