National Assembly: Why Igbo Lost Out On Top Juicy Positions- Yekini Nabena
Yekini Nabena, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has blamed people for the South-East for losing out on both the Senate President and Deputy Senate President positions in the Ninth National Assembly because of their support for Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to Daily Post, Nabena said this in reaction to a request made by a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, to the ruling party to make him the Deputy Senate President or he will run for the number three position in the country.
Recall that the ruling party has ignored his request and zone the Senate President position to the North-East, Deputy Senate President to the North-West, and Chief Whip to the South-East. A decision that didn’t go well with Kalu who felt it was a slight on the South-East region.
Nabena has however said the people of the region should not blame the party because of their decision not to support President Muhammadu Buhari in the just concluded Presidential elections. He said that nobody is stopping Kalu from contesting for the position but he should know that he would lose because the zoning arrangement does not favour him.
He said that instead of Kalu getting angry with the party leadership, he should blame the Igbo people for rejecting President Buhari’s reelection bid and casting over 90% of their votes for the PDP flag bearer. In his words, “He (Kalu) can contest for the position of Senate President. But the issue is, can he win? Nobody is stopping him from contesting. Igbo people always play themselves out. So, Kalu cannot blame APC. He should blame his own people from the South-East. He should blame them, because they do not know how to play politics. They play politics like a one-way thing. They all voted for Atiku in the Presidential election.
“So, now that Atiku lost, who will help people like Orji Kalu? 99.9 percent of them followed Atiku. So, what is Kalu crying for? He should go back to his people and educate them on how politics is played, especially at the national level. They should play 50-50. If this one did not work, the other can work. So, Orji Uzor Kalu must go back to his people and educate them, because he himself is not worthy to be Senate President or Deputy Senate President. So, if he wants to contest, he can do so. Nobody is stopping him. But I know that he cannot win.”
Let’s have your view on this.
