Yekini Nabena, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary for the ruling All Progressives Congress, supported Senator Godswill Akpabio on Monday in his bid to become Senate President ahead of Tuesday’s vote to elect the 10th National Assembly’s presiding officers.
Nabena pleaded with senators-elect from the North, including former Governor Abdulaziz Yari, to strive towards unifying the nation while claiming that the selection of Akpabio will balance the Muslim-Muslim ticket that brought in President Bola Tinubu and his deputy, Senator Kashim Shettima.
The former APC image-maker was responding to Tinubu and Shettima’s intervention on Sunday, which resulted in the withdrawal of two leading candidates for Speaker.
Aliyu Betara from the North-East and Yusuf Gagdi from the North-Central agreed to withdraw from the race and support Tajuddeen Abbas, the party candidate from the North-West, in the political negotiations.
Nabena stated that the North couldn’t hold the offices of the Vice President, Speaker, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and Senate President at the same time in a statement made public on Monday in Abuja.
He declared: “I shall appeal to all the senators-elect to unite behind Akpabio to become the next President for the sake of equality, justice, and fairness. This is important because the two leading candidates for the office of Speaker withdrew and endorsed Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, making it nearly certain that another Muslim from the North will win the election and become the fourth citizen.
Only the South-South will be affected if the position of Senate President eludes the region, so there is a need for religious balance in government. For this reason, Senators-elect should mobilise support for Senator Godswill Akpabio as the next Senate President.
As of right now, the South-West has produced the President, the North-east has the Vice President, the North-west is about to create the Speaker, the North-central has the SGF, and the South-East will soon generate the Deputy Speaker (Notice that all three of them are Muslims). Where is the South to South, then?
We are also pleading with the senators-to-be from the North to pardon Senator Akpabio if he has committed any wrongdoing in the past by enabling him to become the next Senate President for the sake of national harmony and religious harmony.
