Abaribe Vs Tambuwal: Ex-Governor, APC Senators Mobilise Against PDP Over Senate Minority Leadership

An immediate past Governor and some All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators have reportedly mobilised against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to produce the Senate Minority Leader in the 10th National Assembly.

Naija News reports that APC has 59 Senators; PDP, 36; Labour Party (LP), eight; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), two; Social Democratic Party (SDP); two; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), one; and Young Peoples Party (YPP), one.

It was gathered that the ruling party is plotting to ensure that one of the smaller parties produces the Senate Minority Leader ahead of the resumption of plenary.

ThisDay reports that the immediate past governor of one of the South-south states, who is also a member of the PDP has mobilized forces to stop his party from producing the Senate Minority Leader.

An investigation by the newspaper revealed that the former governor is determined to influence the choices of minority leaders in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

The former governor, who is believed to be working with the suspected agents of President Bola Tinubu’s government, held a marathon meeting with the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio in the Senate President’s office in Abuja over the matter last week.

It was said the PDP chieftain wants his loyalist in one of the minority parties to emerge as the Senate Minority Leader, while his loyalist in the PDP emerges as the House Minority Leader.

ThisDay reports that former Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has been penciled down as the Senate Minority Leader, with PDP’s overwhelming majority strategizing to produce a candidate for the position.

Sources in the Senate who were privy to the meeting told ThisDay that the meeting explored ways of blocking the chances of PDP in the minority leadership positions in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

It was learned that the PDP had zeroed in on the immediate past governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal as the Senate Minority Leader, while the former governor is working against the move.

It was learned that Tambuwal, who was the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 7th National Assembly, was considered the best choice to give Tinubu’s government a robust opposition.

A senator in the Senate caucus of the PDP spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity that bringing Tambuwal on board would create a vibrant opposition to the new administration.

But the former governor of a South-south state after the marathon meeting with Akpabio, left the Senate wing of the National Assembly at about 6:30 pm on Thursday in the convoy of Akpabio; and the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau.

Also in the convoy were senators Salihu Mustapha (APC Kwara Central), Jibril Isah (APC Kogi East) as well as the recently appointed Senior Special Assistant, National Assembly Matters (Senate) to President Tinubu, Senator Abdullahi Abubakar Gumel.

A source at the meeting told ThisDay that the plan of the former governor with the leadership of the Senate, was to have a minority leader not chosen by PDP but by his own loyalists within the party.

He said: “The former governor from the South-south and suspected agents of Tinubu’s administration have zeroed in on a former Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe.”

Abaribe left his position as the minority leader of the 9th Senate when he defected from the PDP to APGA. He, however, returned to the 10th Senate on the platform of the APGA.

The four principal positions for Senators elected on the platforms of the minority political parties are Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority Whip.