‘It’s Hypocrisy’ — Sam Amadi Knocks VP-Elect Shettima Over Call For Southern Christian Senate President

Sam Amadi, a former governorship aspirant in Imo State, has described the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, as a hypocrite after warning his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), against electing a Muslim Senate President.

Shettima issued the warning against the backdrop of APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket and the rejection that trailed the ruling party’s recent zoning of principal offices in the 10th National Assembly.

The former Borno governor and the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who are both of the same faith, were declared in the February 25 presidential election that was held in the country.

Speaking during g a meeting with some House of Representatives members-elect on Friday, Shettima said “Given the current circumstances we’ve found ourselves in, the stability of the nation is much more important than all other considerations.”

He stressed that “The most incompetent (and) the most corrupt Southern Christian is better than the most puritanical and competent Northern Muslim to be the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. All other considerations have to be relegated to the background.”

But reacting when he appeared on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Monday, Sam Amadi berated the VP-elect for the remark.

The former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) wondered why Shettima and APC failed to make such considerations when deciding on the composition of their presidential ticket ahead of the February poll.

“First, we’ll start with what looks like hypocrisy, I mean he (Shettima) says the dumbest (and) the most corrupt Southerner is better than the smartest northerner for the office (of the Senate President)what could make the case that maybe the most corrupt and incompetent Christian northerner was more suited for the VP position than the smartest non-Christian northerner.

“What’s the point? The idea of balancing is a holistic idea, it’s a whole of government approach.

“If you look at chapter two of the Constitution, it talks about justice being the heart of the Nigerian democracy and secondly, the Federal Character principle talks about the whole government. So, you’re going to start balancing from A to Z (including) the Executive and the Legislature.

“Now, the crisis that the APC is facing is, ordinarily if you have a President who is a Christian Southerner, you should have a Senate President from the North. Because the South has taken the major job, OK?, the next (office).

“So, the Senate should actually go to the North and the Speaker, to the South if you are looking at that parity. And that’s the case of some of the northern arguments but because you have a Muslim-Muslim President and Vice, it puts in an odd position to have a northerner as Senate President since the potential persons would likely be a Muslim.”

The APC found itself in a fresh crisis after its National Working Committee announced a fortnight ago that it had nominated Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, and Abbas Tajudeen, a House of Representatives member from Kaduna, for Senate and Speaker positions in the National Assembly.

The party also nominated Barau Jibrin, a senator representing Kano north, as deputy senate president, and Benjamin Kalu, a lawmaker from Abia and current house spokesperson, as deputy speaker.

But the nominations were faulted by lawmakers within and outside the party, with the party facing difficulty in mitigating the rift.

Shettima, however, told the lawmakers-elect during his meeting with them that the APC wants to avoid a situation where all principal offices in the 10th Assembly would be of the same faith.