I Am Still Suffering For Not Having A Yoruba Speaker – Jonathan

Dimeji-Bankole-Goodluck-Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said he regrets the failure of the South-west to get the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives in accordance with the zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“I always say it; one of the problems I faced in the National Assembly was that I felt the right thing should be done because our party has a formula. We have six geo-political zones in the country and when the president emerges from one of the geo-political zones, the vice president emerges from another geo-political zone, the rest core offices – the senate president, the speaker, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the chairman of the party – must come from different geo-political zones,” Jonathan said at the Yoruba Unity Summit, organised by the Yoruba Unity Forum and held at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State.

“The idea is that, whenever we are distributing board positions and some of these appointments, these people sit to take decisions. Whenever we are appointing ministers, all these people sit to take decisions. In that case, we want all the geo-political zones to be in the inner caucus that take critical decisions,” the president explained.

“The last time, it was difficult for me because I insisted that the South-west must get the office of speaker. Of course, I couldn’t go through with it because some of us within the South-west didn’t want it based on some personal reasons. I am still suffering from that till today. That is one of the reasons that the leaders said, this time around, we must work collectively so that whatever position is zoned to the South-west, we should get that position.”

Dimeji Bankole, Speaker Honourable Representative, April 2003 – 29 May 2011
Dimeji Bankole, Speaker Honourable Representative, April 2003 – 29 May 2011

The last time a lawmaker from the South-West held the position of the speaker was in 2011 when Dimeji Bankole, representing Abeokuta South Federal Constituency finished his tenure. Although, the zone of the President, his vice and the Senate president has remained the same, a northerner Aminu Tambuwal has held the position since 2011. If the PDP zoning was to be considered, someone from the southwest should be speaker of the House of Representatives.

Jonathan restated his commitment to keeping Nigeria as one and he said he remained true to his conviction of a united Nigeria. He praised the efforts of the Yoruba people and their cooperation with other sections of the country to ensure Nigeria remains united. He therefore pledged to do more for the region, as over 50 percent of the nation’s wealth comes from it.

He observed that the gathering was “not just about the unity of the descendants of Oduduwa but a clarion call on Nigerians to embark on a path to seek accommodation and build consensus.”

He therefore charged people of the country to live in harmony, noting that with love, understanding and respect for one another, there is no obstacle Nigeria would not surmount.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Too late to shed crocodile tears. What did you
    do when a PDP leader was calling the APC a
    yoruba amala and ewedu party in anambra?
    You were seated there urging them on as they
    ridiculed awolowo. His spirit gave you a taste
    of disgrace to come when you visited a great
    university named after him, as the students
    chanted and called you and your cohorts
    thieves. Where’s our lagos-ibadan
    expressway? Is it now you want to repair all the
    junk federal roads in lagos? Oh, you suddenly
    realised that the votes from SS and SE can’t
    help you retain aso rock so you now. need
    those of the SW. I thought those 2 regions
    were the pillar of your government as you
    proudly announced to the world as if they were
    the only regions you that got you elected. Even
    if they were, should a president be making
    such divisive statements? I was never a
    tribalist but you woke up my tribal conscience.
    We are glad tambuwal became the speaker cos
    we yorubas aren’t fools. That seat was a
    bargain for the huge political relevance we are
    enjoying today. Who doesn’t know that having
    a yoruba man there via the fraudulent PDP
    zoning would have favoured you and only you
    as he would do your bidding just as the senate
    has been doing? The Mulikat you wanted to
    install is from my constituency in ogbomosho
    and I was on ground in 2011 when she came
    begging to be re-elected as she shared N500
    notes to the people and dropped a transformer
    too weak to carry the load of the
    neighborhood. Her brake light hasn’t been
    seen since then. That’s enough to show you
    that you would have just empowered an
    individual yoruba instead of the whole of them.
    What did patricia etteh and dimeji bankole
    benefit the yorubas? They only enriched
    themselves. Your government enriches
    individuals only. We are not like fools who sing
    your praises cos you gave their tribes men
    political posts. What we want are
    developments. Am glad you failed in installing
    mulikat cos we would have faced the kind of
    thuggery the fayose you gave federal backing
    is delivery to the ekiti people. I hear you are
    bringing obanikoro for lagos. Bring it on! Why
    do you associate yourself with thugs,
    fraudsters, drug barons, militants and looters?
    Mr president, you disappointed not only the
    yorubas but also sane nigerians. We voted
    massively for you in 2011, am sorry to say this
    in tears: you won’t have our votes anymore.

  2. It was not GEJ’s fault. It was a slap in the face of Obasanjo by no less a con man than BAT who had earlier floored baba in the 2003 and subsequent elections. Baba should take the blame for that monumental loss of the South West which must be corrected in 2015, insha Allah.