Only eight days remain until the 10th National Assembly is sworn in, and the competition for the position of Senate President has heated up as the two main camps of candidates have each asserted that they have the backing of the majority of voters.
According to news sources, there are now two main camps vying for the position of Senate President: that of Senator Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, and that of Abdulaziz Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State.
You may recall that the All Progressive Congress (APC) leadership had recommended Akpabio and Senator Jibrin Barau (Kano North) as their top choices for the positions of Senate president and deputy president, respectively.
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Other candidates for the position, including Yari, Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu, and Imo-West senator-elect Osita Izunaso, didn’t agree with the choice and have now formed a coalition to defend Yari.
Both groups have been working hard to gain more supporters for their respective causes, despite repeated demands for Yari’s team to honor party dominance by withdrawing from the election.
It was discovered that candidates needed a simple majority of the 109 senators to win the election.
According to information acquired by this online news source, the Akpabio camp welcomed senators-elect at the Transcorps Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday while the Yari camp met with lawmakers at the Destination Hotel in Wuse 2.
According to Daily Trust, one of Akpabio’s supporters claimed to have majority support and that they had increased their lead to 65 senators-elect.
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He added that it was a productive session and that attendees were not just APC members.
The source noted that “We had in attendance 65 senators-elect including former National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, immediate past governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi (APC, Ebonyi) and a ranking lawmaker, Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia, APGA). An elder statesman, Segun Osoba was also in attendance.”
Similarly, a source from Yari’s camp also said the attendance was impressive, noting that “Ranking senators like Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), former Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and other senators-elect from APC, PDP and LP attended the meeting.
“The meeting convened by the Senate Democratic Caucus (Yari’s camp) had in attendance 57 senators-elect while about 16 others sent in their regrets.
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“We are going to take the final decision on the whole matter on Tuesday and Nigerians would know that the current zoning arrangements done by the APC had collapsed.”
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