The lawmaker representing Borno South at the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume has revealed the preferred candidate of President Bola Tinubu for the seat of the Senate President of the 10th National Assembly.
According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus candidate for the seat, Godswill Akpabio is the President’s preferred candidate for Senate President.
Ndume, as gathered by OsunDaily News, disclosed that the President told him about his preference for Akpabio and personally directed him to lead the campaign for his emergence as Senate President for the 10th NASS.
The lawmaker, while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, said “The President told me that his preferred candidate is Akpabio and I should lead the campaign.”
He said Tinubu has expressed his confidence in the capabilities of Akpabio and he won’t change his mind on his position as his preferred candidate for the seat.
Ndume submitted that of the 109 elected Senators in the red chamber, 75 have declared support for Akpabio’s ambition.
The lawmaker, however, admitted that a strong competition from the camp of the former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, who is also contesting for the position.
He noted that “As at today I am telling you we have 75 senators. All advantages are on our side. We have the support of the party, we have the support of the president, and most importantly we have the support of most of the senators. These senators signed up to endorse our programme.
“Let’s say that some people will jump over at the last minute, that can happen, but I am very confident. I don’t want to be overconfident because people can change their mind, but we have a better candidate.
“We have two candidates that are in front now, that is Yari and Akpabio and our candidate has all the advantages over the other candidate, politically and intellectually, we have an added advantage.”
Recall that the APC had in May released the zoning arrangement for the four major NASS leadership as Senate President – South-South, Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); and Deputy Senate President – North West, Senator Barau Jibrin (Kano).
The Speaker of the House of Representatives (North-West) – Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna); and Deputy Speaker, South East-Hon. Ben Kalu (Abia).
