Prior to the opening of the 10th National Assembly, President Bola Tinubu made an effort to calm angry lawmakers-elect. However, there are indications that Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia State, and Abdulaziz Yari, the former governor of Zamfara State, are still standing their ground.
Despite Tinubu’s meeting with the incoming members on Thursday, Kalu and Yari have remained steadfast, according to a source with ties to the 9th Senate’s Chief Whip.
News outlets have previously reported that Tinubu had a meeting with incoming MPs on Thursday at the Presidential Villa.
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At the meeting, Tinubu stated that he would prefer Tajudeen Abbas to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives and Godswill Akpabio to lead the Senate.
The source while speaking on Yari and Kalu’s stand said, “It is not about them. It is about the people they represent. Tinubu is from the South West; the vice president is from the North East. How do you expect the North West to react to this faulty arrangement of taking the Senate presidency to South-South”
Another source close to Yari, who is also a senator and was at the meeting with the president, said, “Honestly, there is no going back. It is too late to appease Senator Yari to back out from the race.
“Of course, we listen to the president. He spoke at length including balancing the offices; the issue of having a Muslim president and a Muslim vice president and therefore the need to have a Christian Senate president.
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“Some of us are not convinced by this analogy; we are talking about the legislature. It is about allowing the 109 senators who have equal status in the eye of the law to select those that would lead them.
“We would certainly support the president to achieve his lofty dreams for Nigeria but we want him to hand off everything that has to do with the National Assembly.”
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