The Justice and Development Consultative Forum has said that the leadership of the Senate should be zoned to the North-east to enable it have a strong representative that would aid reconstruction, resettlement, rehabilitation and development.

The leader of the forum, Elisha Cliff Ishaku, who made this known at the weekend noted that the region deserves an influential voice that can promote positive impact and rebuild the destruction caused by the insurgents.

He explained that the region single handedly produced the second largest number of votes that aided the APC to grip victory adding that despite the fear of attack by the Boko Haram, bombs flying all over and loss of lives and property in the region on the election day that left several people dead, our people left their dead on election day to vote for a leader they believe in and bury them after the election.

His words, “ from when I can remember the leadership of the senate when zoned to the north has always been taken by the north central.
“I don’t think we are asking for too much, look at the recent devastations in the North-east, we have lost a lot to the insurgencies and we are still losing, our children are being kidnapped in hundreds, our wives and women molested, brothers and husbands killed, families without their homes, the destruction is massive.”

“Can you imagine being called an internally displaced person in your own country, living in refugee camps, surviving on the generosity of others, and the future of our children unknown, presently they are  living in other states because of security concerns”.

The Secretary of the group, Uchenna Rowland Onyeizu, further noted that such devastations can only be repaired if someone who is from that region is made the senate president.

He explained that the region needs a person who can institutionalise change and sustain it.

  According to UNICEF, conflict in the North-east has left some 800,000 children homeless, caught between Boko Haram, military forces and civilian self-defence groups; in the same vein, Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa stated that “The abduction of more than 200 girls in Chibok is only one of endless tragedies being replicated on an epic scale across Nigeria and the region,” “Scores of girls and boys have gone missing in Nigeria – abducted, recruited by armed groups, attacked, used as weapons, or forced to flee violence. They have the right to get their childhoods back.”

  Elisha noted that with the rate of suffering, Nigerians should be sympathetic towards their cause and zone the senate presidency to them.

Continuing, Mallam Ishaku took reporters  through a historically analysis of how the senate presidency and its deputy have been occupied since our democracy, i.e 1979 till date; 1979 – 1983 – John Wash Pam – Deputy Senate President from Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, 1992 – 1993 – Ayocha Ayu – Senate President from Benue State, North Central Nigeria, 1999 - 2000 – Haruna Abubakar – Deputy Senate President from Nasarawa State, North Central Nigeria,  2000 – 2007 – Ibrahim Mantu – Deputy Senate President from Plateau state, North Central, Nigeria, 2007 – till date – David Mark – Senate President from Benue, North Central Nigeria.

And he asked passionately, “Can’t equity and fairness be done this time?” and therefore pleaded  with Nigerians, especially the leadership of APC to do the needful and zone this position to the North East, that presently has got very credible and competent persons elected as Senators-elect.

He called on the North-central that  have been occupying the senate presidency or Deputy senate presidency zoned to the North since Shagari regime till date to demonstrate equity and fairness and support this political request from the North-east