The Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, has urged Members of the 10th Assembly not to be sentimental in choosing Principal Officers at the National Assembly saying that the lawmakers to put into consideration national unity, competency and equity in making their choices.

The organisation said that every region and religion and all-round leadership capacity must be put into consideration in the choice of leadership to give a sense of belonging to everyone in the Nigerian project.

Mark Adebayo, the National co-spokesperson for CUPP, made this assertion in Abuja, the nation’s Capital, saying that the ethnoreligious configurations of Nigeria must not be ignored in the choice of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He added that the National Assembly members-elect must never allow pecuniary factors to determine the choices to be made but should consider national unity, equity and leadership capacity.

He said, “All hands must be on deck to ensure that justice prevails in choosing the next set of National Assembly principal officers, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The ethnoreligious configurations of Nigeria must be taken into deliberate consideration in deciding who and who emerges the next Senate President and Speaker of the House.

“Every region and religion and all-round leadership capacity must be put at the forefront of consideration for choosing those to occupy those sensitive positions in order to give a sense of belonging to everyone in the Nigerian project. To ignore these crucial factors is to set up the country for intractable distrust and crises.”