Minority leadership: Wike’s meeting with Akpabio raises dust at senate

Opposition senators have vowed to resist any attempt to foist compromised leadership on the minority caucus.

The four principal positions reserved for the opposition parties in the Senate are minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy whip.

In a move to get his political associates into minority leadership positions in the Red Chamber, the immediate past governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, met Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Thursday.

The meeting, which held at the National Assembly, lasted for several hours. Wike left the parliament around 6.30pm without talking to newsmen.

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The former Rivers State governor is said to have successfully pushed his associate, Kingsley Chinda, as minority leader in the House of Representatives.

But opposition senators vowed to resist any attempt to foist “compromised leadership” on them by forces within and outside the National Assembly.

The lawmakers, in a joint statement, said the minority caucus would select its leaders after consultation with their respective political parties without undue interference from anti-democratic forces.

They emphasized that no senator has yet been endorsed or selected for any minority position.

The statement was jointly signed by Mohammed Adamu Aliero, Henry Seriake Dickson, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Abdul Ningi, Patrick Abba Moro, Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi, Sumaila Kawu, and Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah.

It said, “It has come to the notice of the Minority Political Parties in the Senate of an attempt by forces inside and outside the Senate to divide the Minority Parties and foist a pliant and compromised leadership on them.

“We have pledged to work constructively with the new Senate leadership and the Executive branch to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people. We consequently hereby advise and caution that they should not aid any group inside or outside the Senate to divide and destabilise the minority parties and the Senate institution.

“Senators of the minority parties would meet when the Senate reconvenes and, in consultation with our respective political parties, would select its leaders without undue interference from anti-democratic forces within or outside the Senate.

“For the avoidance of doubt, no Senator has yet been endorsed or selected for any Minority position as this would await due process as agreed by all Minority Parties in their last meeting. Attempt to foist a one party dictatorship would be resisted and would fail. We call on all members of the Minority Political Parties to work together in unity to defend the democratic institution of the Senate and Nigeria.”