By JOY MBACHI

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, has called on Federal lawmakers from the zone in the 10^thNational Assembly to vote for its principal officers based on their inclination.

Chiedozie Ogbonnia, National Publicity Secretary, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Sunday.

Ogbonnia said that the group is not in agreement with the zoning of key offices of the 10^thNational Assembly as has been proposed by the ruling party.

He said that the apex Igbo group leadership, under Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, agreed to direct all Igbo lawmakers to vote according to their discretion.

Ogbonnia said that the Igbo Apex group rejects the principle of zoning of principal offices of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He said the group, after due evaluations and considerations, described the allocation of the position of the Deputy Speaker to the South East as highly disgusting and provocative to the Igbo race.

“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has watched with keen concern the zoning of principal offices of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We have also observed that the All Peoples Congress (APC) zoned the position of the Deputy Speaker to the South East of Nigeria, and this we considered to be unacceptable,” he said.

Ogbonnia said that the lawmakers should have the best interest of the nation at heart in all their duties as national legislators to ensure that longings of the geo-political zones would be addressed.

He said that the federal lawmakers should be independent in their core decisions and work in a harmonious manner irrespective of their political parties, religion or ethnicity to bridge any gap of disunity. (NAN)