by Ibrahim Audu

The overwhelming victory of the APC in all strata of the political sphere has thrown up new challenges to the party which has not been in the position of leading the affairs of the country since the commencement of the Fourth Republic in 1999.

But irrespective of the experience or inexperience of the party in leading the affairs of the state at the federal level, presenting principal officers of the respective arms of government remains one
task that the party must achieve when it assumes power and control of the National Assembly.

Since 1999, the most political parties have adopted a zoning arrangement that split the country into six geopolitical zones for the purpose of making the government truly representative in the spread of political leadership positions amongst the geopolitical zones.

Fast forward to the present, the APC is presently saddled with the surmountable challenge of zoning the remaining key positions of the face of the government (Senate Presidency and Speakership) positions among the remaining 4 geopolitical zones.

The post that first comes to mind is the position of the Senate Presidency which is the number three position in the country and it will be the thrust of this discussion.

Following the victory of the APC at the federal level polls, notable figures across the country began a lobbying process that saw statesmen and power movers canvass for their candidates with reasons supporting why those persons should be considered for the position.

But starting from the commencement of the Fourth Republic in1999, the various geopolitical zones have all struggled to get fair representation in the distribution of the top four positions in the
country’s government. The table below clearly shows how the zones had been represented in the sixteen year period.

Era	Position	Name	Zone
1999 – 2003	PresidentVice President Senate President   Speaker	Olusegun ObasanjoAtiku Abubakar Chuba Okadigbo/ Pius Anyim Salisu buhari/ Ghali N’Abba	South WestNORTH EAST SOUTH EAST   North west
2003 -2007	PresidentVice President Senate President   Speaker	Olusegun ObasanjoAtiku Abubakar Adolphus Wabara/ Ken Nnamani Bello Masari	South WestNORTH EAST SOUTH EAST   North West
2007-2009	PresidentVice President Senate President   Speaker	Musa Yar’AduaGoodluck Jonathan David Mark   Patricia Etteh/ Dimeji Bankole	North WestSouth South North central   South West
2009-2011	PresidentVice President Senate President Speaker	Goodluck JonathanNamadi Sambo David Mark Dimeji Bankole	South SouthNorth West North Central South West
2011-2015	PresidentVice President Senate President Speaker	Goodluck JonathanNamadi Sambo David Mark Aminu Tambuwal	South SouthNorth West North Central North West
2015 till date	PresidentVice President Senate President Speaker	Muhammad BuhariYemi Osinbajo ??? ???	North WestSouth West ??? ???

But a look at the representation of the various zones in the top four positions shows that two of the zones; the North East and the South East have been poorly represented since 2007. This shows that further scheming these two zones out of the top four positions will keep them out of the top four positions for a much longer period owing to the improved stability in the country’s political sphere which records less impeachment and upheavals.

This calls for a change as intentionally or unintentionally keeping a section or sections of the country out of the mix in the zoning arrangement is capable of causing disunity and distrust among the zones which is not what any responsible government desires.

With the APC not having representation from the South East Zone in the Senate, the position of the Senate President should be offered to the North East Zone to boost the unity drive of the country.

Asides the case of poor representation in the past governments, the North East Zone also has some peculiar situations that make it wise to offer the Senate Presidency position to that zone.

Since 1999, the North East Zone has essentially been a zone in the hands of the opposition and following the merger of the leading opposition parties, it becomes fair that a zone that held its own
despite the threats of being run over by the ruling party should be allowed to participate in the mix of things.

The North East Zone has also not had good representation outside the top four positions of government as the zone has only managed to get few top ministerial slots and quite a lot of junior ministerial positions over the past sixteen years.

The North East zone also happens to be the least developed zone in the country as it has at least two of its states in the lowest quarter of all socio-economic index. Having one of their own hold such a high position would boost the belief of citizens of the country from that zone in the Nigeria Project.

The North East Zone contributed greatly to the success of the APC at the polls even though the zone came back from a near annexation by the dreaded Boko Haram Sect to churn out great voting numbers for the APC.

In truth and in conformity with the ethos of democracy, every single member of the Senate is entitled and worthy of becoming a Senate President, but if a zoning arrangement that seeks to promote the unity of the constituent elements of a country is in place, it is wise that
such arrangement is given good consideration for the promotion of unity and peace.