The coalition of progressives APC stakeholders has advised the party`s National Working Committee (NWC) to discard the purported zoning and micro-zoning of principal officers of the incoming 10th National Assembly.

The coalition’s national coordinator, Alfred Gbaja, advised at a news conference on Monday in Abuja while speaking on the type of leadership the in-coming 10th National Assembly deserved.

Mr Gbaja added that the offices should be left open for all senators and House of Representatives members-elect to vote for the most credible members as one among equals.

He called on President-elect Bola Tinubu to see all APC senators as his own who were elected to support his incoming administration.

He said Nigeria needed a leader ready to confront challenges and change the same to the advantage of Nigerians.

Mr Gbaja noted that there had been various agitations from different go-political zones ahead of the swearing-in of the 10th National Assembly.

He said it was regrettable that some APC members had depended solely on religious balancing in producing the next Senate president without recourse to competence, credibility, and capacity.

He said some members-elect believed that since the president-elect and the vice-president were Muslims by faith, the 10th Senate president must be a Christian.

“We strongly disagree with that school of thought because in the recent past when Dr Goodluck Jonathan was the President.

“The Senate President, Sen. David Mark, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, Secretary to the government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, were all Christian by faith.

“Yet no Muslim complained because governance differs from religion.

“Today in Nigeria’s history, we face the hard reality of how to build a nation free of terrorism, poverty, banditry, unknown gunmen and a host of other disasters while we confront climate change,’’ Mr Gbaja said.

He stressed that Nigeria required a tested and trusted leader with proven track records of good governance who would complement the executive as the 10th Senate president.

Mr Gbaja said the coalition saw these qualities in Sen. Abdulaziz Yari, a former two-term governor of Zamfara and a frontline Senate president aspirant.

(NAN)