The leader of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC),
Frederick Fasehun, has called on the present administration, led by the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to ensure that the position of Speaker
of the House of Representatives remained with the South West.
According to Mr Fasehun, anything contrary to this
would be short-changing the Yoruba. “We hate to think that the Yoruba
people of the South West are being politically marginalised. It must be
stated that fair is fair and foul is foul. For democracy to thrive,
justice must be done to all and sundry,” he said.
Mr Fasehun said zoning the office away from the
South West would mean that the presidency “used and dumped the Yoruba
people to win the highest position in the land”.
The sectional leader added that “the truth remains
that the South West voted en masse for President Goodluck Jonathan, in
total disregard of party affiliations, and expects to be rewarded for
helping PDP and the President in that crucial victory for the country’s
biggest stake. Sharing of offices of the National Assembly should not
make Yoruba people to regret their voting preference.”
Mr Fasehun argued that taking the position of
Speaker away from the South West would also violate the federal
character principle as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.
“The present arguments on sharing National
Assembly offices are definitely unequivocally lopsided against not only
the Yoruba but the Constitution. Section 14(3) stipulates that: ‘The
composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies
and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as
to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote
national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring
that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few state or from
a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of
its agencies.’”
He stated that “if the Senate maintains the status
quo and the Senate President remains within the North Central and the
Deputy Senate President is retained in the East, then why should the
South West lose the (position of) Speaker?
“Maybe we should remind the nation too that the
President legitimately comes from the South South and the Vice
President comes from the North West. The exit of Honourable Oladimeji
Bankole after May 29 leaves the South West with virtually no share in
government. We hope the powers-that-be will consider that the South
West zone is too big and too politically important to be left out in
the current scheme of things. The federal government should not allow
the Yoruba people to think that they are being marginalised and pushed
out of the federal government.”
The OPC leader said intense lobbying by other zones for the post of
Speaker “clearly endangers the federal character principle of the
Constitution, which stipulates an all-inclusive administration for the
country.”
