Igbos don’t deserve Senate presidency, Arewa chieftain says

Musa Saidu, a chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), says the South-East cannot get the Senate presidency of the 10th National Assembly because it failed to learn from its past mistakes.
Mr Saidu, also the leader of the Arewa Community in Southern Nigeria, said this on Tuesday in Abuja.
“I want to say without fear of contradiction that the South-East has no justification to start asking for the Senate Presidency of the 10th National Assembly because it is not part of those who voted for the APC,” the northern chieftain stated.
He added, “The South-East can’t be in contention for the Senate Presidency because its people didn’t vote for the APC.”
Mr Saidu was reacting to the demand by the South-East Senate caucus asking the APC to zone the position to the South-East for fairness and justice.
“You are talking about fairness and justice when you didn’t even vote for the APC during the 2023 general election. Other zones voted massively for the party and the President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, while you decided to give your votes entirely to the Labour Party,” the APC chieftain explained.
He added, “How can you come out to say that the President-elect should zone the Senate presidency to South-East when you didn’t vote for him? Supposing he didn’t win the election, would he be in the position to zone the Senate presidency.”
Mr Saidu said that the South-East had a similar problem with President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 when it demanded the position of the secretary to the government of the federation.
“When you ganged up to defeat the APC even in the stronghold of the president-elect, what were you thinking of? The Senate presidency is not for free. You have to work for it,” the ACF chieftain explained. “You are calling for equity and fairness, but you decided to concentrate your votes for LP. Is there fairness in that?”
He added, “I think that the zoning the Senate presidency to South-South is not entirely a bad idea because the zone performed better in terms of voting for the APC in the last election.”
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Heading 5
Commonwealth Games: Nigeria wins silver in men’s 4x100m, Usoro claims long jump silver
Team Nigeria concluded day nine of the 2026 Commonwealth Games with one gold, two silver medals and one bronze medal.

States
Soludo’s wife advocates healthy lifestyles to reduce lung cancer
The governor’s wife called on Nigerians to prioritise early detection of lung cancer and adopt healthy lifestyles.

Heading 1
2027: INEC publishes Tinubu, Atiku, Obi’s credentials
The documents, displayed in Form EC9 at INEC offices nationwide, contained the candidates’ educational qualifications, work history, and affidavits, among others.

NationWide
Afrobeats can drive campaigns against drug abuse, human trafficking, says Marwa
Mr Marwa said Afrobeats, as a globally recognised music genre embraced by young people, possesses enormous potential to influence positive behaviour.

Africa
U.S. reaffirms recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara
Mr Trump said Washington remained firm in its position on the disputed territory.

Africa
WHO reports largest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo
The WHO said the outbreak had spread to five provinces, affecting 49 health zones, with sustained transmission, rising infections and increasing deaths reported nationwide.





