Lawmakers-elect vow to oppose Akapbio’s nomination

Despite the adoption of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the preferred candidate for Senate President by the All Progressive Congress (APC), some members-elect of the 10th National Assembly have vowed to make independent choices of leaders at the inauguration of the parliament.

Recall that the ruling APC had on Monday announced Akpabio as its consensus candidate while picking Hon. Tajudeen Abbas for the speakership of the House.

It was gathered that the choice was yet to be accepted by the majority of the lawmakers-elect.

The zoning formula was reported to have provoked the senators-elect to reinvigorate their earlier quest to vote for their choice in the duo of Abdulaziz Yari and current Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu for the top two leadership positions in the Senate.

The Senators said that choices ran at variance with the open contest practice which the President-elect benefitted from during the APC presidential primaries.

A prominent Northwest Senator-elect who craved anonymity, described the actions of Tinubu as not only disappointing but provocative, saying that Akpabio was an unpopular candidate.

He said it was dictatorial to impose an individual candidate on them. He said: “The plan of the APC to impose a candidate to the National Assembly is dead on arrival.”

The lawmaker recalled that President Buhari, Northern Governors and the APC pushed for zoning of the Presidency to the South without selecting any preferred presidential candidate but rather than allow an open contest to give all candidates from the region equal opportunity, the president-elect and the party decided to handpick someone for them.

He noted that Tinubu would have stood no chance of becoming President if the president and the party leadership had drafted a candidate into the contest. (Content excluding headline originally published by Nigerian Tribune)