Senate Majority Leader – South South, North East On War Path

Inalegwu Shaibu

24 June 2011

Abuja — The decision of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to zone the Senate Majority Leader to the South-South is still causing ripples in the Senate, as the South-South Senate Caucus yesterday told their counterpart from the North-East to forget the position.

Senators from the North East, who are opposing the zoning of the majority leader, had argued that they had been denied the position because the leadership of the Senate was being Christianized.

But spokesperson for the South-South Senate Caucus, Senator Heinekin Lokpobiri, in reaction to the statement, said it was an attempt by the North-East senators to arm twists the Senate into giving them the position.

Senator Lopkobiri also accused the North-East Caucus of trying to northernize the National Assembly, arguing that the zone would have itself to blame, if it cried of marginalization after the alleged trade off of the position of the deputy speaker.

According to Lokpobiri, “the North East zone got the position of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives but they traded it off on the floor of the House, so why should they turn round to blame anyone?”

AllAfrica – All the Time