Yari And Akpabio Work To Gain Allies Ahead Of 10th Senate Inauguration

Senators-elect Abdulaziz Yari and Godswill Akpabio are working to gain the support of their colleagues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties before the 10th Senate begins.

This comes after President-elect, Bola Tinubu reportedly chose Akpabio and Jibrin Barau for the top Senate positions, causing disagreement among party members.

Yari is said to be pushing for backing from both opposition senators-elect and those in the ruling party.

A group of senators, mainly former governors, is supporting Yari and trying to persuade PDP members to vote for him as Senate president.

In order to win the Senate presidency, contenders need a simple majority of votes.

The 10th Senate is set to be inaugurated on June 13.

A source familiar with the situation that spoke with Daily Trust said that the group supporting Yari is recruiting senators-elect aggressively to achieve their goal.

“Their target is to get 60 senators across party lines to key into the project,” the source said.

Some contestants from the South-South and South-East are unhappy with Akpabio’s nomination.

Despite this, they continue to campaign and seek support from senators in the APC and other parties.

Akpabio, on the other hand, is reportedly working tirelessly to secure support from lawmakers-elect across party lines.

“He has been meeting with senators-elect on the platform of APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, SDP, and YPP to get their support,” a source in his camp said.

Aside from Akpabio and Barau, seven other senators-elect have indicated interest in the Senate presidency including Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North); Sen Abdul-Aziz Yari (APC, Zamfara West); Sen Sani Musa (Niger East); Sen Ali Ndume (Borno South), Sen Osita Izunaso (Imo West), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi South) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North).