A difficult conflict is brewing in the 10th National Assembly, with approximately 37 senators-elect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposing the proposed selection of Senators Godswill Akpabio and Jubrin Barau as Senate President and Deputy Senate President.
President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu informed the senators-elect of the decision to select Akapbio and Jibrin during an APC leadership meeting in Abuja on Friday night.
Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, who represents Kaduna State’s Zaria federal constituency, was also named as the president-elect’s choice for House of Representatives Speaker.
Many of the 37 senators-elect who voted against Akpabio cited national unity and cohesion as reasons for their opposition. Instead, they proposed Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and former Zamfara State governor Senator Abdulaziz Yari for Senate President and Deputy Senate President, respectively.
These APC senators demanded that the president-elect remain neutral during the elections for the presiding and principal officers of the 10th National Assembly.
One source that spoke with Vanguard on the conflict between lawmakers said;
About 37 APC senators-elect have rejected the choice of Akpabio as the Senate President. He was introduced alongside Senator Barau as Deputy Senate President.
But the senators-elect cited national unity and said they would rather vote for Orji Kalu and Yari as Senate President and Deputy Senate President.
They also appealed to the president-elect who also chose Tajudeen Abbas for Speaker not to interfere in the elections of the presiding officers of both chambers of the National Assembly. This is the situation now.
Concerns were also raised about Tajudeen Abbas’s election as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Some House members favored the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara, for the position.
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