10th Senate Presidency: Akpabio in trouble as senators nominate different candidate

As stakeholders abandon the party’s zoning plan to support a different candidate for the 10th Senate Presidency race, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is once again in disarray.

Recently, the ruling party announced a zoning plan for the 10th National Assembly’s leadership positions, with Godswill Akpabio (South-South) as the preferred candidate for Senate President and Barau Jibrin (North West) as the deputy Senate President.

However, it has come to light that some of the newly elected North members are still promoting a different agenda.

Tajudeen Abass (North West) of the House of Representatives has been endorsed by the APC leadership as their top choice for Speaker, while Benjamin Kalu (South East) is expected to win the position of Deputy Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.

Though there are still those who disagree with the ruling APC’s decision to choose a Muslim-Muslim ticket as its presidential and vice presidential candidates, stakeholders in the ruling party and other political parties have agreed in principle that a Christian from the South should lead the 10th Senate.

Don’t forget that both the incoming president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his vice president, Kashim Shettima, are Muslims.

Justice Kayode Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and leader of the judiciary, is a Muslim as well.

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But despite the party’s earlier stance and the aforementioned obvious realities, some former governors from the North and National Assembly members from the APC and the opposition are reportedly starting a covert campaign for former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari.

Also a Muslim, Yari. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader who served as the National Assembly’s presiding officer is the leader of the new Northern coalition, according to information made available to newsmen.

Further information revealed that the former presiding officer is opposed to the South receiving the office of Senate President. The most powerful politician argued that the North should have produced the late Umaru Musa Ya’Adua’s successor and opposed President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to run for the presidency in 2011.

He collaborated once more with Northern forces in 2015 to unseat Jonathan. He ran in 2019 but came up short for his party. He ran unsuccessfully for President in 2023 despite the general agreement that power should be transferred to the South.

According to The Sun, some lawmakers who have been approached by the presiding officer and other prominent Northern politicians claim they were instructed to back Yari and drop the APC’s zoning position.

According to a senator-elect quoted by Saturday Sun, Yari has the support of important Northern senators-to-be who are hoping to repeat the outcome of 2015, when Bukola Saraki became Senate President against the wishes of his former party, the APC.

An additional senator-elect who requested anonymity claimed that he was promised the chairmanship of an A-list committee in exchange for supporting the campaign.

The outgoing senator expressed concern that the North would elect a Muslim as the next president of the Senate if candidates from the South didn’t band together and forge a united front in the coming days.

He claims that one of the arrowheads pushing for a Senate President of Northern ancestry in the 10th National Assembly is a senior member of the current Senate.

The South will rebel and oppose any attempt by the North to elect a Muslim as the Senate President, according to one of the senators-elect who was spoken to by journalists.

In order to counter Yari’s “desperate moves,” he said, Southern senators-elect will soon convene at a lavish forum where other candidates will be urged to band together and present a single candidate.

When asked if opposition supporters would attend the meeting, he responded in the affirmative. He said, “Every senator-elect from the South will be there.”

“You read a statement released by the Northern Elders’ Forum leadership, insisting that no one will force a candidate on the North,” he continued. That serves as the introduction to what some of them are planning.

“Those who should be speaking out in favor of electing a Christian as president of the Senate are silent. That ought to reveal something to you. We didn’t anticipate some of the people who are ruthlessly running Yari’s campaign.

They are pleased that South senators-elect are divided over whether to support Akpabio or other candidates. The South needs to speak out and band together now more than ever. They’ll do that, I’m certain. These issues will be discussed at our upcoming meeting.

“Even though I’m not a part of the APC, I think Tinubu won’t permit it once he assumes the presidency in the near future. He is aware of the controversy his ticket caused, and if he wants to mend the wounds, he will do whatever it takes to stop Yari.

“The most surprising thing is that the person attempting to persuade his colleague to support a Muslim is a former presiding officer. The extent of his greed. Since 2011, this former presiding officer has consistently voiced opposition to anything involving the South.

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“I’m also urging Akpa and the other South African contenders to have an open discussion and end this pointless contest. We have a nation to defend.