The clamour by the South-East geo-political zone to produce the next Speaker of the House of Representatives received a major boost Monday as the chairman of the Governors Forum in the zone, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state assured that he would lead other governors in the zone to meet President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party on the issue.

Also Monday, the leadership of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo threw its weight behind the agitation and urged the ruling party to take into consideration the massive support the party received across the five states in the South East zone during the just concluded general elections. Obi’s pledge to intervene in the matter came after he met with some serving members of the House of Representatives from the South East zone at the Government House, Awka, Anambra State.

The lawmakers at the meeting had told Obi that the zone having voted massively for the Peoples Democratic Party in the presidential poll and other elections deserved to be compensated with either the position of Speaker or President of the Senate. The meeting, it was learnt resolved to intensify the campaign and lobby to avoid the zone being short-changed in the power sharing game.

President of the pan-Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue urged President Goodluck Jonathan and leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to accede to the request of the people of the zone to produce one of the two presiding officers of the seventh session of the National Assembly.

Uwechue who spoke Monday in Abuja noted that the South zone gave an overwhelming support both to the president and the PDP in the last elections, insisting that the “reward system must be commensurate with the support” the party got in the zone. He said that it was ‘payback” time and warned that the Igbos must not be excluded from getting deserving positions under any guise.

“The PDP as a political party got total support from Igboland. The long and short is that we want something from the National Assembly and they (South East lawmakers) have said it: it is either senate presidency or the speaker of the House of Representatives. We want a position that is commensurate with the PDP success in the zone, a just position: a position that is fair to the Igbos, to Nigerians and to everybody.

“But let us say that the support and contribution of Ndigbo to the victory of Jonathan and the PDP at the polls must be duly rewarded because the Igbo sacrificed a lot to get Jonathan to where he is now: we are entitled to something that will reflect the investment and sacrifice in the power equation in the country”, Uwechue said.

The South East caucus in the House of Representatives had earlier demanded for leadership of either the Senate or the House of Representatives, insisting that they would not accept any other office in the incoming National Assembly.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/n-assembly-s-east-govs-ohanaeze-ndigbo-insist-on-speaker/91104/