Dissent is brewing among senators in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who may cause disruption if their president, Godswill Akpabio, doesn’t address their concerns.
The disgruntled senators are reportedly strategizing with opposition lawmakers, primarily from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), with the aim of ousting Akpabio as Senate President.
The discontented lawmakers are planning to support Senator Abdulazeez Yari, previously defeated by Akpabio, in hopes that he will serve everyone’s interests better.
These senators are reaching out to colleagues from other parties such as the PDP, Labour Party, and SDP, anticipating how Akpabio might handle the office of the majority leader.
However, those within Akpabio’s camp seem confident that the tension will dissipate once principal offices and committees are distributed.
Sources that spoke with Leadership have described the senators’ move to dethrone Akpabio as highly ambitious, considering the difficulty of gathering enough support for his removal.
A Senator said, “The aggrieved lawmakers have a lot of work to do. To produce another president of the Senate, these aggrieved lawmakers will have to first remove Akpabio with at least 73 Senators (two-thirds of 109). That is only possible if Akpabio did not give the North the office of the Senate leader.”
Another senator from the North-Central said, “There is no senator that is trying to leave the APC. The Senate has just been inaugurated and every senator wants to be carried along, especially those from the opposition. There is no APC senator that will want to defect now because there is great implication. But the lawmakers can still be in the APC and work against Akpabio.
“Some people are just planting stories that 22 Senators from the APC want to join the PDP. No senator will take that risk because before you remove the president of the Senate, you must have 73 senators. So, people raising that kind of alarm are just flying a kite.
“We don’t see that happening but if they sideline people who worked for Akpabio’s emergence, more than that number will join the opposition camp, not another political party, to get a new leadership.
“About 24 senators keyed into the Akpabio project because some influential lawmakers in the North were leading the campaign. If Akpabio did not ensure balancing in the Senate leadership, especially the principal officers, these 24 lawmakers will now align with the 22 aggrieved APC senators. With about 46 senators in Yari’s campaign, Akpabio will not last in that seat because the Northern senators want the position of the Senate leader.
“We learned that Senator Opeyemi Bamidele is being positioned for the office of the Senate leader. If that is done, the Northern senators will not be happy with Akpabio and that will be the beginning of his problem.
“So, Akpabio must ensure that the Northern senators are pacified with the principal offices. So, the ball is in Akpabio’s court.”
