The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is in disarray once more as party members abandon the party’s zoning plan in favor of a different candidate for the 10th Senate Presidency race.
Godswill Akpabio (South-South) is the preferred candidate for Senate President, and Barau Jibrin (North West) is the preferred candidate for Deputy Senate President, according to a recent announcement by the ruling party.
However, it has come to light that some members-elect from the North are still promoting another agenda.
The APC leadership has endorsed Tajudeen Abass (North West) as their top choice for Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives, while Benjamin Kalu (South East) is expected to win the position of Deputy Speaker.
A Christian from the South should lead the 10th Senate, according to stakeholders in the ruling APC and other political parties, despite the fact that there are still dissenting voices on the topic of micro-zoning. This is because the ruling party chose a Muslim-Muslim ticket for its presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Remember that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the incoming president, and Kashim Shettima, his vice president, are both Muslims.
In a similar vein, Justice Kayode Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), who oversees the judiciary, is a Muslim.
In spite of the party’s earlier stance and the aforementioned stark realities, a number of former governors from the North and members of the National Assembly from the APC and the opposition are reportedly starting a covert campaign for Abdulaziz Yari, the former governor of Zamfara State.
Yari is a Muslim as well. According to information provided to reporters, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader who served as the National Assembly’s presiding officer is now the leader of the new Northern coalition.
Further information revealed that the former presiding officer is against giving the South the Senate’s presidency. The top politician argued that it was the North’s turn to produce the late Umaru Musa Ya’Adua’s successor in 2011 and opposed President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to run for president.
He teamed up with Northern forces once more in 2015 to unseat Jonathan. He ran in 2019 but failed to win the seat for his party. Despite the general agreement that power should be transferred to the South in 2023, he unsuccessfully ran for president.
The presiding officer and other prominent Northern politicians reportedly approached some lawmakers, who claimed they were instructed to support Yari and abandon the APC’s zoning position.
One of the senators-elect was quoted by Saturday Sun as saying that Yari has the support of important Northern senators-elect who are planning a repeat of 2015, when Bukola Saraki became Senate President against the wishes of his former party, the APC.
According to a senator-elect who requested anonymity, he was promised the chairmanship of an A-list committee in exchange for his support.
The returning senator issued a warning, saying that if candidates from the South don’t band together and forge a united front in the coming days, the North will elect a Muslim as the next president of the Senate.
He claims that one of the arrowheads pushing for a Northern-extracted Senate President in the tenth National Assembly is a key official in the current Senate.
The South will rebel and oppose any attempt by the North to elect a Muslim as President of the Senate, one of the senators-elect approached by journalists claimed.
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The newly elected senators from the South, he claimed, will convene at a lavish forum soon, where other contenders will be urged to band together and put forth a single candidate to thwart Yari’s “desperate moves.”
He responded in the affirmative when asked if attendees from the opposition would be present at the meeting. “Every senator-elect from the South will attend,” he declared.
He continued, saying, “You read a statement issued by the Northern Elders’ Forum leadership, insisting that no one will impose a candidate on the North. That is the introduction to what some of them plan to do.
“Those who are supposed to support electing a Christian as president of the Senate are silent. That ought to indicate something. We didn’t anticipate some of the people running Yari’s campaign, and they don’t hold back.
They take pleasure in the disagreement among the South’s newly elected senators over whether to support Akpabio or other candidates. The South needs to speak out and come together now. They’ll do that, I have no doubt. We’ll discuss these issues at our upcoming meeting.
“Even though I’m not a part of the APC, I think Tinubu won’t permit it when he takes office soon. He is aware of the controversy his ticket caused, and he will stop Yari at all costs if he wants to mend the wounds.
The fact that a former presiding officer is attempting to persuade his colleague to support a Muslim is what surprises me the most. How rapacious can he be? Since 2011, this former presiding officer has consistently opposed anything that has to do with the South.
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“I’m also urging Akpa and other South African contenders to sit down and discuss their differences in order to end this pointless contest. We must defend our nation.
