Some concerned stakeholders in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, have endorsed the reported zoning of the Senate Presidency to the South South and adoption of Senator Godswill Akpabio as president.
They insisted that virtually all the states in the South East had at one time or the other produced Senate Presidents, irrespective of the duration of their tenures.
The stakeholders also aligned with the decision of a section of APC National Working Committee, NWC, to zone the Deputy Senate President slot to the Northwest and specifically for Kano senator, Jibrin Barau.
Although Barau’s adoption is being opposed by some governors in his zone who are already projecting one of the federal lawmakers for the House speakership, the stakeholders said a combination of Akpabio and Barau in the Senate Presidency would engineer a successful Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Convener of the stakeholders, Okpokwu Ogenyi, said at a briefing in Abuja weekend that votes delivery in the last presidential election was a factor that must be considered in picking the presiding officers of the National Assembly.
He said: “We are aware that zoning is not done in a vacuum, so we highly recommend Senator Godswill Akpabio for the position of Senate President and Senator Barau Jibrin as Deputy Senate President respectively.
”This will go a long way in building the confidence of APC members across the country in preparation for the future of our great party, the APC.
“It is pertinent to note that, in the South, South-South contributed the second highest votes after South-West which house the President-elect.
”The North-West gave the party the highest votes in the North with Kano state consistently giving APC the highest vote per state in every election since the formation of the APC.
“In the National Assembly, Senator Akpabio is the most ranking senator from the South-South under the platform of the APC while Senator Barau Jibrin is the most ranking senator from the North West.
“We sincerely appeal to the National Chairman of our great party, Sen Abdullahi Adamu, and his National Working Committee, NWC, members to zone the Senate Presidency seat to the South-South and the Deputy Senate President to the North West, preferably micro-zoned to Akwa Ibom State and Deputy Senate President to Kano State to pave way for the most ranking senators, Godswill Akpabio and Barau I. Jibrin to emerge as the Senate President and Deputy Senate President of the 10th Senate respectively.”