10th Assembly: No going back on my choice of Akpabio, Tinubu tells APC Senators-elect

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appealed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators-elect to abide by the zoning arrangements announced by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party ahead of the inauguration of the 10th Senate on 13th June, 2023.

The APC had endorsed Senator Godswill Akpabio from South-South for President of the Senate and Senator Jibrin Barau from North-West for Deputy Senate President.

However, some lawmakers of the ruling party had expressed their opposition to the proposed zoning formula and vowed to pursue their own ambitions to contest the various positions for which the party had already made choices.

Addressing over 40 APC Senators-elect led by Senator Akpabio at the Aso Rock Villa Wednesday night, President Tinubu appealed to all APC Senators-elect to toe the lines of the party’s zoning arrangement in electing their Presiding Officers.

The president, according to a statement from Akpabio Media Team, stressed that, “this is the right thing to do in support of the Renewed Hope agenda” of his administration.

“At this point of our history and challenges facing us as a new administration, all hands must be on deck to salvage the unpalatable situation facing the nation. We must see the situation as a pan-Nigerian Project for the Executive and the Legislature to work out solutions to the challenges of the nation,” he told the Senators-elect.

President Tinubu said “the task ahead to finding solutions to the myriads of national problems cannot come from the executive arm of government alone but by the working together of the executive and the legislature.”

He added that the Senators-elect present at the meeting should reach out and pass the appeal to other APC Senators-elect, who were unavoidably absent to toe the party lines and put a leash on all personal ambition in favour of party programme and national interest.

“Talk to your colleagues that are not here to toe the party line and give the Renewed Hope agenda a chance to succeed. The elephant is big enough for all members and indeed Nigerians to have a share of the Renewed Hope in due course” he admonished.

Earlier at the meeting, which lasted late into the night, Senator Akpabio, again, congratulated the president on the successful presidential inauguration and stated that since the party announced the zoning arrangements for the leadership of the National Assembly, majority of the party’s Senators-elect led by him and Senator Barau had reached out to other APC Senators- elect and those from the opposition political parties with positive result and pledge of support.

Daily Trust reports that the rescheduled meeting focused on the need to ensure a executive-legislature harmonious relationship and perfect the process of electing leadership of both Chambers of the National Assembly.