No justice in National Assembly - Azuka Onwuka

 

I don't care about positions in the National Assembly but it seems some people don't care about justice and balance in how positions are held by the zones.

Speaker Dogara is from the North-east (Northern Nigeria) and still wants the House Leader to come from the North-West (a zone that has already produced the President) - he says he is doing it for the sake of justice and zonal balancing.

The APC leaders want the House Leader to come from the South-West (a zone that has produced the Vice President and the Deputy Speaker). They say they are doing it for the sake of party supremacy over elected officials.

One would have thought that simple logic and fairness would have made these two groups to zone the House Leader position to the South-South, given that the zone does not have the Presidency or VP, Senate Presidency or DSP, Speakership or DS, or office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. But nobody is even considering it,

For the first time in Nigeria's history, the 3 arms of government (Executive, Legislature and Judiciary) are controlled by people from Northern Nigeria. An unsual precedent has been set and may be exploited badly in future. In addition, President Buhari has been criticised for making a high number of his appointments from the North.

Choosing people based on merit is wonderful, and I fully support it, but there is no part of Nigeria where you can't get qualified and trustworthy people.

Nigeria is a country where ethnic and religious sentiments run deep. People may just complain or watch events silently and take notes. That does not mean that they feel happy with such acts of insensitivity.

Such silent discontent can be exploited by mischievous people for ulterior motives.

Therefore, those who are in power must always have this at the back of their minds while taking any national decisions. It is a sign of wisdom and foresight, not weakness.

Azuka Onwuka is an author, motivational speaker,and social commentator.