- ….as Yari insists on contest
The quest by Senator Godswill Akpabio to lead the 10th Senate may have suffered a setback as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senators-elect are said to be against his ambition.
This is even one of the contenders for the position of Senate Presiding Officer of the 10th Senate, Senator-elect Abdulaziz Yari, has vowed to contest the election notwithstanding the position of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the position or opt for consensus.
Already the zoning of the position of Senate President by the APC to the South South has been made known by Governor Umaru Ganduje of Kano state.
Ganduje spoke at the end of an eight-man caucus meeting of the APC held in President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s residence on Friday morning.
He said that the slot has been zoned to the South-South and specifically mentioned Akpabio as the choice of the party.
He said Akpabio, who joined the ruling APC in the build-up to the 2019 general election, is the preferred candidate of the President-elect and the leadership of the ruling party, while Senator Barau Jibrin from Kano State has been picked as Deputy Senate President.
For the incoming House of Representatives, the APC Caucus was said to have opted for Hon. Tajudeen Abbas from Kaduna State and Hon. Benjamin Kalu from Abia State as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
Senator Barau and Hon. Abbas are from the same North-West zone, a development that some leaders of the party are said to have frowned against.
Besides, Akpabio is believed not to be in the good books of the PDP caucus in the National Assembly both the outgoing 9th Assembly and the incoming 10th Assembly.
Therefore, all efforts by the former Akwa Ibom State Governor have not been met with favorable response from PDP lawmakers-elect, it was learnt.
He is said to enjoy the support of only a few PDP Senators-elect especially those from
Rivers State.
“Even though Akpabio has been lobbying us to support him, our members not keen to back him.
“Remember what he did in 2018/2019. The PDP honoured him as a first-timer in the Senate by giving him an exalted position of Minority Leader.
“Without any just cause, he abandoned the PDP midstream and joined APC. He was rewarded with a ministerial position.
“We can’t trust such person as a Senate President,” a source who is a PDP Senator-elect from South-South said.
It was further learnt that another reason while the PDP-Senators-elect are hesitant to back Akpabio is the way he allegedly embarrassed lawmakers during a Senate hearing on Niger Delta Affairs Ministry under him in 2021.
Read Also: Senate President: APC leaders backing Akpabio, S/South, says Ganduje
“His behaviour that day shows someone who hate the legislators’ guts and he is ready to shut the door of reconciliation.
“Another reason why most legislagors are afraid of supporting Akpabio is his alleged connection to the ordeal of two South-South Senators, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (Akwa Ibom) and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (APC – Delta Central),” the lawmaker added.
Meanwhile, Zamfara West Senator-elect, Abdul’Aziz Yari, has refused the entreaties of the APC leadership Caucus to step down for Akpabio in the Senate Presidency race, saying he will go ahead to contest position.
Yari, the immediate-past governor of Zamfara State, who spoke in Abuja, said the contest for the Senate Presidency will be based on constitutional provisions and not instructions by anyone.
He said, “What is going to happen that day, it is going to happen based on the instructions of the constitution and not for anyone.”
The former member of the House of Representatives described the contest as Senators’ business, backed by the 1999 Constitution to choose their leaders within themselves and not based on instructions from anyone.