A former Commissioner for Information in Edo state, Prince Kassim Afegbua on Saturday said he and other like minds are pushing for Senator Godswill Akpabio as the next Senate President because he has the leadership qualities and experience needed to give Nigerians qualitative lawmaking.
Speaking in an interview, Afegbua an ally of President Bola Tinubu also dismissed Senator Abdul’aziz Yari who is also contesting for the Senate Presidency position as a disruptor who has no respect for party supremacy.
He said “I don’t want to discuss anything about Yari because I see him as a disruptor. I see him as somebody who is coming to upset the political algorithms of the country, knowing full well that there are lots of sentiments and emotions about the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the Tinubu-Shettima campaign. Thank God they won the election”.
“A Yari cannot be telling us he is looking for Senate President when you have Tajudeen Abass from the House of Representatives looking for Speaker. So, if the two of them gets it, North-West will produce Speaker and Senate President. Is that what Yari is telling us? I think people must respect the position of the party”.
“No matter how small a party is, no matter how big a party is, the supremacy of the party must be kept sacrosanct at all times. In this case, the party in its wisdom having consulted and said that Godswill Akpabio should represent it at the Senate and Jibrin Barau should be the Deputy Senate President. They also said Abbas is the Speaker and Ben Kalu should be the Deputy Speaker”.
“If you look at the geopolitics and algorithms of power distribution, now you have an Akpabio who is a Christian from the South. That will give some level of stability and that is why we have the Stability Group. You may not consider religion as a factor but it came out so pointedly in this last election, especially when President Tinubu came up with a Vice-Presidential candidate who is now the Vice-President of the country, a Muslim”.
“In the consideration of the party, they felt it is good for us to balance those factors of religion, geo-politics and what have you. So, a Godswill Akpabio is the candidate that some of us are pushing for because he is a formidable Nigerian, a performer, a transformer who as a governor transformed a rural community of Akwa-Ibom, Uyo and its environs into a cosmopolitan city”.
Afegbua also said he has been lobbying Senators to cast their vote for Akpabio on Tuesday June 13 when the 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated.
“I may not have a vote on election day but I have Senators who are from my state; I have Senators who are my friends and I have been doing a lot of lobbying. The point is, Akpabio remains the candidate to beat”.
