Senate presidency tussle: Votes may sell for $5,000, $10,000

Senate presidency tussle: Votes may sell for $5,000, $10,000

•Anxiety in Akpabio’s camp over Yari.

AHEAD of Tuesday’s inauguration of the 10th National Assembly and election of presiding officers, there is apprehension in the camp of Senator Godswill Akpabio, the favoured candidate of President Bola Tinubu for the post of the President of the Senate.

This is just as a credible source said a vote in the Senate chamber, on Tuesday, may “trade for between $5,000 and $10,000 or even more.”

Indeed, the source said some of the senators-elect have started playing double game, collecting dollars from the two contending camps and signing up for them.

 

The source, a member of the Stability Group, the platform campaigning for the Akpabio-Barau Jibrin ticket confided in Saturday Tribune that some of the senators-elect who professed to be working for the Stability Group are playing double game, as they also attend nocturnal meetings of the main rival of Senator Akpabio, the senator-elect for Zamfara West, Abdul Aziz Yari.

The source revealed that some of the lawmakers who appended their signatures on the list of Akpabio supporters have also pledged loyalty to the camp of Senator Yari.

He said: “I don’t know what is happening on the other side but I am aware that some people who claim to be with us have also signed for Yari. I am saddened that senators are selling signatures for between $5,000 and $10,000. They are not asking Yari what he has to offer; they are only interested in his money,” the lawmaker lamented.

The source said the Stability Group would still continue to reach out to many senators to secure their buy-in for the Akpabio-Jibrin ticket.

Indication has emerged that Akpabio’s main rival, Yari, who has vowed not to step down for the favoured choice of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has continued with consultations.

Checks revealed that the former Zamfara State governor has since secured commitment of some opposition lawmakers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

It was also gathered that despite the intervention of a former governor of Kano State and NNPP presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, the senators-elect on his party’s platform are in league with Senator Yari.

During the week, the senator-elect for Kano South Suleiman Kawu (NNPP), decried the zoning template of the ruling APC and announcement of favoured candidates.

Kawu told newsmen that he and his colleagues were determined to frustrate what he called the plot to impose the presidency’s anointed candidates on the legislature.

Four days to the election of the presiding officers of the National Assembly, the Labour Party has rejected a claim by two of its House of Representatives members-elect, Honourables Amobi Ogah and Obi Aguocha.

The lawmakers had declared support for the APC zoning template and the ruling party’s favoured candidates for the leadership of the National Assembly

The National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiorah Ifoh, in a statement on Friday, declared that the lawmakers expressed their personal opinion, contrary to the stance of the party.

Ifoh said: “As individuals, the lawmakers do not have the mandate to speak for the party and therefore cannot claim to be standing on the platform of the Labour Party to speak, giving views that are diametrically opposed to ideals which the Labour Party stands for.”

The LP spokesman warned “the two lawmakers and, by extension, any other member elected on the platform of the Labour Party who chose to walk outside the agreed position and ideals of the party to desist from such trajectory and vain glory.”

The statement reads in part: “The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been drawn to interviews granted by two of our House of Representatives members-elect, Hon. Amobi Ogah and Hon. Obi Aguocha wherein they expressed their satisfaction with the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the zoning formula of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on the leadership of the 10th Assembly.

“The members-elect had, in their different interviews, said that they alongside some of their colleagues have “agreed to go towards government and party decision” on the zoning of the leadership of the National Assembly.

“Although as newly elected lawmakers on the platform of the Labour Party, the members-elect made the utterances which are clearly within their rights as individuals as enshrined in the laws of the land, the party has a view quite different from what the honourable members were quoted to have said.

“As individuals, the lawmakers do not have the mandate to speak for the party and therefore cannot claim to be standing on the platform of the Labour Party to speak, giving views that are diametrically opposed to ideals for which Labour Party stands.

“Labour Party is presently in the tribunal hoping to retrieve our mandate which was expressively given to our presidential candidate on February 25 and every testament emanating from the tribunal points to the fact that Labour Party clearly won the election but was robbed. We have remained resolute in our belief that justice will be done and so soon.

“For the record, Labour Party has nothing against the personality of President Tinubu, but we are challenging both the process and final outcome of the presidential election. We, as a party, insist that the route to His Excellency must be excellent and anything other than that amounts to a mockery of democracy.

“We therefore caution the two lawmakers and, by extension, any other member elected on the platform of the Labour Party who chose to walk outside the agreed position and ideals of the party to desist from such trajectory and vain glory.

“The party has given clear directives and will not condone any of its members who will not subsume to the supremacy of the party. We therefore demand that the affected lawmakers retrace their steps and tender unreserved apologies to the leadership of the party.”