10th NASS: Yari Mobilises N/West Senators Against Akpabio, Jibrin

A former Zamfara State governor and aspirant for the 10th Senate President, Abdulaziz Yari, has allegedly mobilised NorthWest Senators against the choice of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the incoming National Assembly leadership.

Naija News reports that the APC had backed Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin for Senate President and Deputy, respectively.

The ruling party also backed Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu for Speaker and Deputy of the 10th House of Representatives, respectively.

Both Jibrin (APC, Kano) and Abbas (APC, Kaduna) are from the North-west.

According to ThisDay, the North-west has insisted that it must produce the Senate President and not the deputy zoned to it by the ruling party.

It was gathered that Yari, who is the arrowhead of the opposition by the North-west, has refused to back down on his ambition to challenge Akpabio.

Yari, Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, and Osita Izunaso had vowed to challenge APC’s anointed candidate. Izunaso, in particular, insisted that he is the best man for the job, having served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives without baggage.

The former Zamfara State governor has continued to mobilise North-west Senators to insist on the Senate Presidency.

Some of the North-west senators-elect, who spoke to ThisDay on conditions of anonymity, insisted that Yari would run for the position of the Senate President to represent the interest of the North-west.

The source said: “We in the North-west have discovered that we are being sidelined from the incoming administration of Tinubu because we would not be in control of any arm of government if the APC anointed candidates for the presiding officers’ positions in the 10th National Assembly succeeded.

“For instance, the President, who would head the executive, is from the South-west while the judiciary currently has another South-west indigene as the head. There is also every possibility that the person who would succeed him is from the Southern part of the country.

“If we allow the current zoning arrangements of the APC to stand, it means that the nation’s legislature would be in the firm control of another southerner.

“That is why we are very serious about the Yari project, and we have seriously mobilised all our people within and outside the National Assembly to key into the agenda. We shall make it a reality.”