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Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th Assembly on Tuesday, some aspirants for the Senate Presidency and Speaker for the House of Representatives aspirants have continued to insist on contesting for the positions in open defiance of the zoning arrangement announced by the All Progressives Congress in early May.
–PBAT, APC chair Adamu and APC Senators in contest
The recalcitrant contestants said they would not step down for the party’s consensus aspirants for the two leadership positions.
To salvage the situation, President Bola Tinubu and the APC National Working Committee had been meeting with the aspirants and various interest groups but their pacification efforts had so far failed to yield the desired results.
The NWC had micro-zoned the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President seats to Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Jibrin Barau, respectively.
But other aspirants like Senators Abdulaziz Yari, (Zamfara West); Osita Izunaso (Imo West), and Orji Kalu ( Abia North) have insisted that they would not step down for the party’s consensus candidate.
The lawmakers had insisted that the legislature would choose its leaders.
In the House, the APC leadership had also endorsed the member-elect representing Kaduna, Tajudeen Abbas, as Speaker, while the member-elect from South East, Benjamin Kalu, receives support for the Deputy Speaker slot.
‘Izunaso still contesting’
Similarly, a close source to Senator Izunaso noted that the party had reached out to the lawmaker with an invitation to a meeting.
The source stated that he wouldn’t know what his decision would be after the meeting but as of now the stance of the lawmaker is that he would be the next Senate President.
In the same vein, a Special adviser to Isunazo, Kehinde Olaosebikan, noted that his principal was not going back on his ambition to be the Senate President.
He started, “Senator Izunaso is not stepping down on his decision to be the Senate President, and by the grace of God, he will be the next. He is in talks with Senator Yari but he isn’t considering the deputy senate president position. He is consulting as a group and the senators individually. Senator Izunaso is the next Senate President.”
Another strong contender for the Senate president position, Abdulaziz Yari, insisted that the 10th Assembly lawmakers were adamant about choosing their leaders.
Yari, who was represented by Abdul Ningi, a former deputy majority leader of the senate, and senator-elect representing Bauchi South, at a forum on Wednesday, stated that he was not interested in the APC choice of candidates, but insisted that democracy must take its true course in the next legislative dispensation.
Ningi, who is also the Deputy Director General of Yari’s campaign team, said, “I’m not a member of the APC, I don’t know how the working committee of the APC works, but over 20 years we have seen consistent friction where people are imposed on the National Assembly beginning with (former senate presidents Evans Enwerem and Chuba (Okadigbo).
“Allow the senators, in my opinion, to choose whoever they want. The PDP had also made similar mistakes and I thought the APC should not have followed suit. Just as the party chose its chairman, allow the senators to also choose their own leader.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Akpabio’s team, Kassim Afegbua, has dismissed claims that senators were defecting from their camp.
Afegbua also pleaded with the lawmakers to respect the party’s decision on consensus.
Afegbua said, “The APC has zoned the Senate Presidency to the South-South and picked an eminently qualified Senator, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as the consensus candidate for the position.
“The party, in taking that informed decision, took into consideration several factors: religious balancing, geopolitical reasons, contribution to the success of the party in the presidential election, the character of the individual and their antecedents in building our nation.’’
Afegbua added that the leadership of the 10th National Assembly should be held by an individual of quality.(agency)/SHARE THIS
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