The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has rejected reports that it has endorsed a former governor of Abia, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu as its preferred candidate for the Senate Presidency of the 10th National Assembly.
This was disclosed by Alhaji Musa Saidu, a member of the forum, in a statement released on Monday in Abuja.
Aaidu was addressing a statement attributed to Alhaji Yerima Shettima, leader of the Arewa Youth Conservative Forum (AYCF), alleging ACF’s support for Kalu.
“I want to say without fear of contradiction, that the ACF has no youth wing and there was no time that we sat to make Shettima the AYCF leader. The whole thing is false,” Saidu clarified.
Saidu, who is also the leader of the Arewa Community in Southern Nigeria, opined that the ACF would prefer the Senate Presidency to be zoned to the North, given its significant contribution to the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 election.
“The North contributed the highest votes for Tinubu in the presidential election, so we can’t just endorse candidates from other zones for the Senate Presidency,” Saidu asserted.
According to him, endorsing other zones would contradict the North’s support for Tinubu’s presidency.
He went further to express dissatisfaction with the Vice-President position assigned to the North, describing it as ‘like a spare tire’ with little value.
“In fact, the Vice-President slot given to the North is just like a spare tire, everybody in Nigeria knows that the position has no much value,” he pointed out.
Saidu concluded that, in the interest of fairness and justice, the North should be considered for the Senate Presidency. He suggested Senator Abdulaziz Yari as a suitable candidate for the position.
“For fairness and justice, the North should be considered for the Senate Presidency and Sen. Abdulaziz Yari should be endorsed for the position,” Saidu concluded.
