A lawmaker-elect, who is part of Abdulaziz Yari’s campaign, has alleged plots to stop the contender from accessing the chamber during the National Assembly inauguration on Tuesday.
OsunDaily News reports that the former governor of Akwa Ibom State and the choice of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for President of the 10th Senate, Godswill Akpabio, will tomorrow slug it out with Yari, former Zamfara State governor.
Yari reportedly has the backing of Orji Uzor Kalu, Osita Izunaso, and a majority of the senators-elect.
Recall that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had raised an alarm of a plot to arrest senators-elect who are against the ambition of Akpabio.
Speaking with Leadership, a lawmaker-elect claimed that there is an upswing in senators backing Yari.
He said that no fewer than 65 senators-elect are backing the former Zamfara State governor, adding that the situation is causing panic in Akpabio’s camp.
According to him, there are plots to stop Yari by ensuring that he is not nominated for the office of the Senate President. The source said the plot is to ensure that Yari does not participate in the election on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.
Sources alleged that the opposing camp is now convinced that if Yari is nominated on the floor of the Senate to contest for the office of Senate President, he will win because of the number of senators that are currently backing him.
He said: “So they want to stop him from contesting. They don’t want Yari to be a candidate for Senate President on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.
“Presently, they are trying extremely hard to cajole, intimidate, blackmail, and threaten Yari to withdraw from the Senate Presidency race. They are using every arsenal at their disposal to blackmail Yari.
“They are also frantically reaching out to individual senators-elect who are supporting Yari to pull out. The carrot and stick approach is being used to get the senators to pull out from Yari’s camp and back Akpabio.”
“Yari has two federal High Court orders preventing and stopping security and anti-corruption agencies from inviting or detaining him until after the 10th National Assembly leadership elections tomorrow.
“One specifically stops the Nigerian Police, while the other one stops the anti-corruption agencies -EFCC, ICPC, and the DSS – from inviting, detaining, or arresting Sen Yari.
“Also, one of the options being explored to stop Sen. Yari is to prevent some senators-elect supporting Yari from getting to the Senate chambers for the voting. They believe it will reduce the number of senators that would vote for Sen Yari,” the source alleged.
