By Olugbenga Salami
As the inauguration of 10th National Assembly billed for June 13 draws closer, no fewer than 25 state governors are mobilising senators-elect across party lines for the anointed candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senators Godswill Akpabio as the next Senate President and Jibrin Barau as his deputy.
The governors working for the duo include those of Kwara, Nasarawa, Benue, Ogun, Oyo, Lagos, Ekiti, Osun, Kogi, Rivers, Cross rivers, Kaduna, Borno, Ebonyi and Ondo States, among others who were elected on the platform of the APC.
It was gathered that the governors were supporting Akpabio and Barau to uphold the unanimous decision of the National Working Committee, NWC of the ruling party.
According to the state chief executives, the NWC has made the most profound decision that will promote institutional stability and the peaceful conduct of legislative proceedings in the 10th Assembly in the next four years.
Specifically when Akpabio visited Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, he described the aspirations of Senators Akpabio and
Barau for the positions of the presiding officers of the 10th Senate as his personal project.
He also stated that Akpabio, a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was his role model, adding that the senator’s uncommon style of governance as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, endeared him to want to be like him.
Governor promised that he will work to achieve the stability of the President Bola Tinubu Presidency.
Also, the Ekiti State governor, Biodun Oyebanji, said senators-elect and other stakeholders in the state were behind the candidacy of Senator Akpabio to succeed the outgoing Senate President, Dr.
Ahmad Lawan on the inauguration day next week
He said: “In Ekiti State, we are committed to a united National Assembly and we are also committed to the decision of the National Working Committee of the APC with respect to the zoning and you can attest to the fact that all the senators are here with me just to have dinner with Akpabio.
“We are supporting his aspiration as directed by the national body of the party. We are in this together, we are not only supporting, we will identify with him publicly and that is what I have done.
“All Ekiti senators and the leaders, all the former governors – we are in the same boat. We respect the sanctity of the party and we appeal to all contenders to also follow the advice of the National Working Committee.”
Similarly, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, said that APC governors from the North have resolved to support the President Bola Tinubu’s choice of National Assembly’s presiding officers.
“We cannot in any way fight the choice of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We cannot in any way fight the choice of our party,” he said during the aspirants’ visit to him.
In his own, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State said he hoped the 10th Assembly would be about, “shaping new course, breaking records” to surpass and improve on the antecedents of the 9th Assembly.
He described the group of senators-elect across party divides as “a well thought out group.”
