The President-elect, Bola-Ahmed Tinubu sat with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some members of the National Assembly on Wednesday over the zoning of the leadership of the incoming 10th National Assembly.
From the outcome of the meeting, it was learned that Tinubu did not accept proposals made by some members of the APC leadership and three South West senators for the Senate Presidency to be zoned to the South-South. Rather, he told the meeting that he was only disposed to having the number three office zoned to the the South and not to any particular zone.
Furthermore, a Vanguard correspondent gathered that Tinubu said zoning the post to South will give all the qualified aspirants from South East and South South opportunity go into a fair contest for senators to make their choice, just like APC delegates picked the presidential candidate of the party prior to the election.
He stressed his preference for fairness, equity, religious and regional balancing as his benchmark for the constitution of the National Assembly leadership.
Further buttressing Tinubu’s view, a senator-elect who pleaded anonymity, said, “The three senators from South West lied to the president-elect Tuesday night that all of them from the zone were supporting Akpabio for Senate President, but Asiwaju couldn’t be fooled. He cross-checked the claim by reaching out to the other senators-elect only to discover it was untrue.
“As South-westerners, we have good relationship with all Nigerians and these three senators cannot speak for us. They are not our leaders and cannot take South-west senators for granted. Our leader is a former governor who is also a senator.
“For us, we have resolved to do the right thing for the country since it’s the only way Asiwaju (president-elect) can succeed as president. We have chosen to support fairness and justice as this country is built on a tripod – Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
We are happy that the president-elect did not listen to them because he is not petty. He likes fairness and he wants to do the right thing. The 12 senators from the South-west already have a preferred candidate. We have 11 senators and one ranking senator who have endorsed Senator Orji Uzor Kalu for president and Senator Sani Musa for Deputy Senate President.
“The northern senators and southern senators believe in the leadership of these two senators and there is no going back. The good news is that Asiwaju has strong character and will stand firm on his personal convictions.”
Meanwhile, it was gathered that majority of Senators in APC are rooting for Kalu to lead the 10th Senate, while those from the North said the former governor of Abia State stands out, considering his political background and vast experience.
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