10th Nass: Crisis Brews As Lawan Pressures Tinubu To Reject Akpabio, Back Oshiomhole

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has emerged as the latest stumbling block to the emergence of a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as the president of the Senate of the 10th Assembly.

A group of senators led by the outgoing president of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, has persuaded the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to withdraw his initial support for the former minority leader of the Senate.

It was learnt that Tinubu’s decision to withdraw his initial support for Akpabio was taken at a meeting with some senators-elect and ranking senators in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to Leadership, Lawan, who spoke on behalf of the group, told Tinubu that his endorsement would not translate into victory for Akpabio in the Senate.

It was gathered that the senators told Tinubu and members of his inner circle, who were present at the meeting, that Akpabio would be difficult to market for the coveted seat in the Senate.

A source at the meeting said that in what appeared like a subtle threat, Lawan told the President-elect that another senator, nominated by the aggrieved senators, would trounce Akpabio in the election should he insist on his choice of the former governor.

Lawan explained to Tinubu the dangers inherent in projecting Akpabio to the Senate for election.

The senators were reportedly angered by the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the watch of Akpabio as supervising minister of the interventionist agency for the oil-rich belt.

A source said: “As soon as the president-elect returned from his foreign trip, the outgoing Senate president sought and secured an appointment with him. He (Lawan) was cleared to see Mr. President-elect on Tuesday, April 25th. He came with a number of Senators for the meeting. After the exchange of pleasantries, Senator Lawan explained their mission.

“Senator Lawan didn’t waste further time as he went to tell the president-elect that Senator Akpabio, whom he is supporting for the position of Senate Presidency of the 10th Assembly, cannot fly in the Senate. He told the president-elect that no senator will vote for Akpabio, that even Senators Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), Solomon Olamilekan (Lagos West), Barau Jibrin (Kano North) and Tokunbo Abiru (Lagos East), who are following Akpabio up and down, would not vote for him in a secret ballot because Senator Akpabio has credibility baggage.”

The source further stated, “The Lawan-led group strongly advised Tinubu to immediately put an end to his support for Akpabio, saying that it would amount to a waste of time. They said Akpabio is not in the good books of the Senate and no senator will vote for him.

“Lawan reminded Tinubu how Senator Bukola Saraki emerged as Senate President of the 8th Assembly against the position of APC and its leadership. He warned that such disgraceful outing may be in the offing for APC and the president-elect in the Senate if their advice is ignored.

“The visiting senators even warned the president-elect that another senator would be sponsored to contest and defeat Akpabio in the event that he refused to take the advice.”

“A series of meetings were held by Tinubu and his inner circle members thereafter and a decision was reached that a former national chairman of APC and Senator-elect (Edo North), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, be supported to emerge as Senate President. The Tinubu camp was wary of a likely humiliating outing in the Senate if the President-elect insisted on his choice of Akpabio.

“Oshiomhole was considered as a close ally of the president-elect and that he lost his position as national chairman of APC because of his perceived closeness to Asiwaju, the fear of Oshiomhole then was that he was going to use his privileged position to deliver Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the presidential candidate of APC. So, he was eased out. But despite that, Asiwaju still made it.

“So, Asiwaju’s cronies are of the opinion that Oshiomhole can be trusted and that he should be supported. But an issue was raised about Oshiomhole being a fresh senator. () However, a position was taken that he cannot be stopped because he is not a ranking senator; that the Constitution reserves the right of every senator to run for any office in the Senate, that the Constitution supersedes the Senate rules. That, after all, Evan Enwerem, who emerged as Senate president in 1999, was not a ranking senator since there was no Senate in existence before 1999.

“There was also an argument that at the very worst, the Clerk of the Senate can be asked to initiate moves to amend the Senate rule, which provides that only a ranking senator is allowed to hold a principal position in the Senate,” the source added.