\u200eA political pressure group in Abia State is pushing for Arochukwu LGA to get the Abia North senatorial seat, citing years of marginalization in the district.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eThe Old Bende Political Forum said on Wednesday that Arochukwu\/Ohafia Federal Constituency had been underrepresented in producing senators for Abia North since Nigeria\u2019s return to democratic rule in 1999.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eSpeaking at a news conference in Ohafia, the group\u2019s chairman, Mazi John Okafor, said the constituency had produced a senator only once, while other areas had held the seat multiple times.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eHe said Isuikwuato\/Umunneochi Federal Constituency had produced senators on four occasions, including Ike Nwachukwu and Uche Chukwumerije, while Bende Federal Constituency had held the position twice, including the current occupant.
\n\u200e
\n\u200e\u201cEquity demands that the seat should now be ceded to Arochukwu\/Ohafia Federal Constituency,\u201d Okafor said.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eThe forum also argued that within the constituency, Ohafia had dominated political appointments, noting that it had produced the state\u2019s deputy governor for three terms, while Arochukwu had yet to occupy a comparable position.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eIt urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to nominate Dr Philips Nto from Arochukwu for the senatorial ticket, saying such a move would promote fairness and improve the party\u2019s chances in the election.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eThe group further said that if the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, emerges as the APC governorship candidate, it would be more balanced for the senatorial candidate to come from a different local government area.
\n\u200e
\n\u200e\u201cIt would not be equitable for both the governorship and senatorial candidates to come from the same local government,\u201d the forum said.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eThe group reiterated its support for Kalu as a potential governorship candidate and Nto for the Senate, describing them as capable and experienced.
\n\u200e
\n\u200eIt added that the APC would stand a stronger chance in the 2027 elections if it fields candidates it described as competent across the state\u2019s zones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u200eA political pressure group in Abia State is pushing for Arochukwu LGA to get the Abia North senatorial seat, citing years of marginalization in the district. \u200e \u200eThe Old Bende Political Forum said on Wednesday that Arochukwu\/Ohafia Federal Constituency had been underrepresented in producing senators for Abia North since Nigeria\u2019s return to democratic rule in 1999. \u200e \u200eSpeaking at a news conference in Ohafia, the group\u2019s chairman, Mazi John Okafor, said the constituency had produced a senator only once, while other areas had held the seat multiple times. \u200e \u200eHe said Isuikwuato\/Umunneochi Federal Constituency had produced senators on four occasions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,1],"tags":[282,1314,127,2192],"class_list":["post-7429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-politics","tag-arochukwu","tag-ben-kalu","tag-nass","tag-philip-nto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7429"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7433,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7429\/revisions\/7433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southeastposts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}