Why NGF Chair Visited Yari Days After Election Of Senate President

Kwara State governor and chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, on Thursday evening, visited Zamfara West Senator, Abdulaziz Yari, at his residence in Abuja as part of peace-building efforts within the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

LEADERSHIP reliably gathered that the visit was a fallout of the outcome of the election of Presiding Officers in the 10th National Assembly.

Yari had contested the Senate Presidency of the 10th Senate against Akwa Ibom South-West Senator, Godswill Akpabio, who eventually emerged victorious shortly before the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

On his visit, the NGF chairman sought Senator Yari’s support for the new leadership of the 10th Senate and the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Recall that Akpabio, a former Akwa Ibom State governor, had garnered 63 votes out of the 109 votes cast, to defeat Yari, also a former governor of Zamfara State, who polled 46 votes.

LEADERSHIP reports that Yari had refused to back down and accept the zoning formula of the ruling APC on the 10th National Assembly leadership, which favoured Akpabio, citing constitutional and power equation reasons, among others.

Immediately after the election and winner pronounced by the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Magaji Tambuwal, Senator Yari congratulated the new Senate President Akpabio.

(LEADERSHIP)