Elder stateman and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, says Southern Christian lawmakers should be allowed to produce the Senate president of the 10th National Assembly.
Speaking in an interview on Friday in Abuja, Mr Clark said that his position was for the promotion of “equity, justice and fair play.”
Mr Clark, also the leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), said his concern was not primarily about zoning but equity.
“All I’m saying is if the president and his vice are muslims and the chief justice of Nigeria is a muslim, then what we are saying is the president of the senate should be given to a southerner.
“A Christian southerner to show that this country is not being ruled by muslims alone.
“This is a very serious issue which must be considered by our most distinguished senators.
All the senators, the 109 of them should put Nigerians first before their states, before their religion, before their ethnicity,” he said.
“No Nigerian will accept a situation where he is a second class citizen, where he doesn’t know what is happening in his government.
“They should look at the Constitution of Nigeria. There is no state religion, Nigeria is a secular country,” the elderstatesman added.