The Arewa Political Forum has urged Sen. Barau Jibrin to contest the position of President of the Senate, rejecting the call for him to accept the deputy slot.
Convener of the group, Dr Abubakar Daura, said this after an emergency meeting on Sunday in Kaduna.
The group said the North had already ceded the number one position to the south, therefore, it would not accept the position of the deputy in the senate.
Daura said: ”We sacrificed the number one position, and now they want us to let this go; it won’t happen.
”We insist on Sen Barau Jibrin, not just because he is from the Northwest, but because he is the most competent among all the other candidates for the office of the President of the Senate.
”Jibrin is the highest-ranking, longest-serving legislator in the Senate, and deserves to be the next Senate President.
”He is also from the state that has supported the All Progressives Congress (APC), since inception, and gave the highest votes during the 2023 Presidential Election.”
The group further dismissed the reported endorsement of Sen Goodswill Akpabio, by the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu, maintaining that the North must produce the 10th President of the Senate.
The group said: ”Barau is the choice of the North and cannot decide on his own to accept the deputy position being offered to him.
”It is beyond him, let us have the Senate Presidency as compensation for sacrificing and conceding the number one position to the south.
”We are begging the president elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to reciprocate our kind gesture to him and the south by endorsing and supporting Sen. Barau Jibrin.”
Recall that another group, Conference of APC Support Groups, had earlier called on Jibrin to run for the position of President of the Senate, saying the Northwest had worked hard for the party and deserved the position.
”As it stands today, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will be in the majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, with 57 Senators-Elect and 160 Reps-Elect from the official results declared so far by INEC.
”The role of the National Assembly in enabling true democracy to thrive cannot be overemphasised.
”And so we the critical stakeholders of the APC believe that the party should not leave anything to chance in ensuring that all of those who worked for its success in the just concluded general elections are carried along.
”This is to avoid a reoccurrence of the 2015 scenario where some elected National Assembly members, on the platform of the APC, formed an unholy alliance with opposition parties and rocked the boat of the APC.
”The party must not, and never allow such unpleasant and retrogressive histories to be repeated,” the group insisted.
Also, Adamu Garba, a former APC presidential aspirant, said that if Jibrin was elected President, the North would further be assured of APC’s commitment to the Northwest and so would have its full support in subsequent elections.
”The Tinubu administration will have a baggage free 10th National Assembly, as it will have competent leadership with Jibrin at the top.
”This is a win-win for the APC, and Insha Allah, a smooth sail for Asiwaju upto 2027, this is reasonable, apt, political and commonsensical proposal,” Garba said.
The group therefore, expressed its belief in Jibrin as a formidable candidate, who had all it would take to be the number three in the hierarchy of the country’s leadership,
”No doubt that the seat of the President of the Senate is a top position which wields a lot of influence, and one that holds the gavel to either make or mar the executive.
”This position must therefore be given only to a deserving party member, whose loyalty cannot be in doubt, and whose interest must be the success of the incoming APC government, and by extension, the growth and development of Nigeria.
”Therefore, looking at the achievements and antecedents of Sen. Barau Jubrin, unarguably one of the oldest legislators in the National Assembly, it will be safe to say he is the one that the cap fits.
”The emergence of Sen. Jubrin as President of the 10th Senate, will definitely complement the experience and willingness of the incoming President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the incoming Vice President Sen. Kashim Shetima to deliver on good governance to Nigeria and also help in building an enviable political party, with a strong structure, support and adequate compensation for loyal and hard working party members,” Daura said.
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