Senate Presidency: Tinubu Rejects Akpabio, Declares Open Contest in the South
Emerging reports have confirmed that Nigeria’s president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has rejected the recommendation made by the national working committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the senate presidency to be zoned to the south-south geo-political zone. As reported by The Sun, this development emanated after a closed-door meeting between the president-elect, the chairman of the APC and the party’s national working committee on Wednesday, April 26.
It was gathered that some APC lawmakers of the National Assembly were also present at the crucial meeting.
Details from the meeting confirmed that Tinubu was not in agreement with micro-zoning the Senate Presidency but was in tune with zoning the position to the south, The Vanguard newspaper reported.
This means there will be an open contest between south-south and southeast aspirants who will slug it out in a fair battle.
Sources privy to the camp of Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is from the south-south region, said the lawmaker was the one orchestrating the agenda for the senate presidency to be micro-zoned to his region.
The source said: “The plot to have a sole South-South candidate by zoning the office to the zone failed flat with President-elect, who, in his wisdom, rejected pressures by some members of the party leadership and the Southwest senators for the zoning of the Senate presidency to the South-South.
“There’s no truth in all that was reported in the media that the President and the NWC have settled for South-South.
The President insisted that the position should be zoned to the South region.”
Information from another source revealed that most lawmakers in the red chambers are queuing up behind Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia state, southeast zone. A senator-elect from the southwest region who asked for his identity to be concealed said: “The three senators from South West lied to the president-elect Tuesday night that all of them from the zone were supporting Akpabio for Senate President, but Asiwaju couldn’t be fooled.
He cross-checked the claim by reaching out to the other senators-elect only to discover it was untrue.”
In another similar development, there are indications that Bola Tinubu might have already settled for his preferred candidate for the Senate Presidency.
According to a recent report, Tinubu has reportedly settled for the chief whip of the senate, Orji Kalu, as his preferred candidate for the sea of the Senate presidency.
Tinubu reportedly arrived at his choice of candidate after meeting with the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly and the chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
