The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, has thrown its weight behind the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, rejecting the zoning of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to South-East.
DAILY POST recalls that the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC, agreed to have the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for the position of Senate President, while Tajudeen Abass from Kaduna State was anointed as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The APC NWC also anointed Hon. Ben Kalu of Abia State for the position of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
With the zoning formula, the party has obviously put paid to the ambition of some Southeastern senators-elect to become the next president of the Senate.
But Ohanaeze, in a statement issued last week by its National Publicity Secretary, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, described the zoning of the Deputy Speakership to the region as disgusting, unreflective and provocative.
Backing Ohanaeze’s stance, COSEYL in a statement on Thursday by its president General, Goodluck Ibem wondered why Kalu refused to quit the race despite the rejection.
The statement reads partly, “This position as taken by the apex socio-cultural group in Igboland is the popular will of our people. It reflects and resonates with the Igbo quest for political survival as one of the major ethnic nationalities in the country.
“We deem it very insulting, contemptuous for Hon. Benjamin Kalu, member Representing Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State, to betray the collective interest of Ndigbo at a time like this by accepting the position of the Deputy Speaker which, by our ranking, is the 7th position in the hierarchy of office and position of power in the nation.
“This singular act by Ben Kalu is reproachful and we condemn it in its entirety.
“For emphasis, we wish to ask: are the Igbo now ranked seventh in terms of population and contribution to national growth, economic advancement and development? Are the Igbo now the seventh largest ethnic group in the nation that spoils sharing will eliminate and consign them to the abyss of nothingness?”