By Emman Ovuakporie

ABUJA—AN advocacy group, the Coalition for Justice and Fairness, CJF, weekend, cautioned the All Progressives Congress on the dangers of excluding the South South geo-political zone from its zoning formula, particularly in the  Speakership of the House of Representatives.

The CJF said in a statement that the APC administration having had the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari from the North West and the vice president-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo from the South West, it was alarmed following reports of the APC zoning the National Assembly leadership to the North East and South West regions, by implication excluding the South South and South East geo-political regions.

CJF in the statement signed by its convener, Muraina Ahmed, warned that the exclusion of the zones will negate the federal character principle enunciated in section 14(3) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The statement read in part: “For the records, the APC as the majority party has the conventional privilege to zone the offices of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. The knotty issue that will test APC’s abhorrence of impunity, which was one of the major reasons Nigerians voted for the party, is the zoning of the listed leadership offices in