10th Assembly: Why Zoning Will Protect The Minority, Labour Party Member-Elect, Chief Amobi Ogah Speaks

An elected House of Representatives member on the platform of the Labour Party, Mr. Amobi Ogah has called on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) with the highest number of lawmakers in the 10th Assembly to zone the principal offices to represent all shades of opinions and interest.

The Member-elect, who represents the Isiukwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency in Abia State said that the National Assembly should not be seen as a political party enclave or extension but as a Nigeria entity with the interest of all Nigerians.

Ogah, who defeated the fourth-time lawmaker, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejiocha of the APC said the number of the new lawmakers is so high that it should not be neglected by the APC on the fact that they have the majority.

The elected lawmaker posited that only one zone can favour his zone, South East in that National Assembly.

Speaking on his expectations for the 10th Assembly, he said, “Well, without being told you know very well that the 10th Assembly will be a unique one considering the number of new members. Out of 360, we have almost 292 as freshers and these are young men with vision, these are young men who believe that the 10th Assembly would not be a rubber stamp Assembly. So, for me, in the 10th Assembly, we are expecting to have a leadership that is generally acceptable and we believe that we will have a leadership that would carry all the members along; the leadership that would not be a rubber stamp, the leadership that would help to take all Nigerians to the next level, we are here because we want a better Nigeria.” 

Asked to comment on the number of lawmakers jostling for positions of leadership and the implications, Ogah said, “Well, l have always believed in zoning because zoning protects the minor.

“Nigeria is a very special place, where if you don’t zone, you are not protecting the minority and the way things are going now, in as much as l am member-elect of Labour Party l believe the ruling party should zone because it is only zoning that can protect my zone.
If you say let everybody contest and whoever wins should take, at the end of the day South East might not get anything. But when you zone, that is only when the minority can have something on the table. At this point we are in this country, we need unity, we need togetherness and we must work together to achieve unity the only way to show that is by having a united leadership not minding the party you are coming from.

“We have APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, APGA, etc in the house. So, through the Zoning, you can see that every party would be well represented.”

When asked, your idea of zoning does it include none APC members? He said, “When they zone properly to APC members, it would go down to reflect on other parties. For instance, when you zone the Speakership to a particular place, the Deputy would go to another place and these are not the only principal offices in the House of Representatives. We have other offices. In the same way, the zoning will reflect in APC, it will also reflect on other parties for unity in the leadership of the 10th Assembly.”