‘NNPP justify Why northern Muslim can’t be Senate President’

Abdulmumin Jibrin, a leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Kano State, has argued that the 10th National Assembly, which is anticipated to be inaugurated sometime in June, would be poorly served by electing a Northern Muslim as Senate President.

Any Nigerian who loves the nation, in his opinion, should not back a northern Muslim as the next Senate President.

This was said by Jibrin during an interview that aired on Politics Today on Channels Television on Wednesday.

The NNPP leader suggested that the North-Central and North-West regions, respectively, should be assigned the roles of Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He said, “My personal opinion, if you look at the entire controversy of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, I think anybody that loves this country should not be thinking that the number three man should be a northern Muslim,” 

“The appropriate thing is that the position should go to a southern Christian. I believe that anybody who wants it the other way round, he loves himself more than the country.”

Jibrin, a member-elect to represent Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency in the 10th National Assembly, said using the 1999 template, the next Senate President should be from the South-East geopolitical zone.

He said, “If you adopt the 1999 template, it means that the Senate Presidency will go to the South-East. I know a lot of people are going to shout: ‘Oh, the South-East are fighting the APC!’

“For goodness sake, once a President emerges, it is fundamentally right for him to assume the status of the President of the country.”

Jibrin also said the positions of the Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives should be zoned to the North-Central and North-West, respectively.

Recall that the All Progressives Congress, APC won majority of the legislative seats during the February 25th National Assembly elections, with over 55 Senate seats out of 109 and over 160 out of 360 House of Representatives seats. 

After the elections, many legislative member-elect have expressed interest in the leadership positions in the red and green chambers.

The party produced the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu from the South-West zone and the Vice-President-Elect, Kashim Shettima from the North-East.