A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary
of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Yekini Nabena, on Monday, backed the
immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to
emerge as Senate President ahead of Tuesday’s election of presiding officers
for the 10th National Assembly.
While stating that the choice of
Akpabio would balance the Muslim-Muslim ticket that brought in President Bola
Tinubu and his deputy, Senator Kashim Shettima, Nabena begged senators-elect
from the North, including former Governor Abdulaziz Yari to work towards
uniting the country.
The former APC image maker was reacting to
Sunday’s intervention by both Tinubu and Shettima, an action that led to the
withdrawal of two major contenders for the position of Speaker from the race.
At the political parley, Aliyu
Betara from the North-East and Yusuf Gagdi from North-Central agreed to step
down from the race and endorse the preferred candidate of the party from the
North-West, Tajuddeen Abbas, for the position.
In a statement released in Abuja
on Monday, Nabena noted that there was no way the North should be allowed to
have the positions of Vice President, Speaker, and Secretary to the Government
of the Federation, and Senate President at the same time.
He said: “For
the sake of equity, justice and fairness, I will appeal to all the
senators-elect to rally around Akpabio to emerge as the next president. This
has become necessary because the two major contenders in the race for the
position of Speaker have withdrawn and declared their support for Hon. Tajudeen
Abbas, which means that the road is almost clear for the emergence of another
Muslim from the North as the number four citizen.
“Therefore, there is need for religious balancing in government and for
the fact that only South-south will be left out of equation if the position of
Senate President eludes the region, hence the more reason Senators-elect should
rally support for Senator Godswill Akpabio as the next Senate President.
“As it
stands today, the South-west has produced the President, the North-east has the
Vice President, the North-west is about to produce the Speaker, (Note that the
three of them are Muslims), the North-central has the SGF and the South-East to
produce the Deputy Speaker. So, where is the South-south?
“We are also begging Senators-elect from the north to forgive Senator Akpabio if he has done anything wrong in the past for the sake of national unity and religious harmony by allowing him to emerge the next Senate President.”
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