AKPABIO, JIBRIN WALK A TIGHTROPE AS YARI INSISTS ON N’WEST SENATE PRESIDENCY
in the affairs of the legislature and instead promote a culture of mutual respect and collaboration between the two arms of government to engender good governance for Nigerians.
Meanwhile, with the expected inauguration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the President on Monday, some senators-elect have advised him to address the sharing of the National Assembly presiding offices crisis to the extent that the North-west concedes one presiding office to the North-central.
The senators-elect said after their meeting Thursday in Abuja that it would be against the spirit of equity to allow a zone to occupy two offices of the presiding offices when the other has none.
The senators-elect advised that Tinubu should avoid inheriting another crisis like what happened in 2015 when the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the Senate presidency and the office of the speaker due to internal squabbles.
According to one of the senators-elect, who spoke with THISDAY, "We intend to meet Tinubu as President, once he is sworn in between Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss with him this time as the President and Commander-in-Chief.
"We want to lay bare before him the implication of starting off with squabbles and agitation from a zone that feels neglected and cheated.
"We will reason with him on why a zone, the North-west will occupy two offices of presiding officers and another zone, the North-central will have none.
"This is the major position of our meeting on Thursday. To some of us, this is just to lay a landmine of crisis for him as the President.
"He is the President and he should not start off with agitation and crisis or allow the National Assembly to slip out of his control. If he allows himself to be deceived, then, it means that he will inherit the crisis," the senator-elect stated.
The senators-elect mostly from the North-central explained that it is expected that the North-west be allowed to choose from the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the deputy senate president.
According to the senator-elect, "Senator Jubrin Barau from Kano State and Hon Abbas Tajudeen from Kaduna have been microzoned for the offices, without considering the North-central that also contributed substantially to the victory of the APC. For equity, we expect that one of the presiding offices should go to the North-central."
When asked of the continued agitation of the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon Aliyu Betara, he said, "From what we gathered, the Vice Presidentelect, Kashim Shettima and the Governor Babagana Zulum are not disposed to him becoming the Speaker because of his alleged governorship ambition.
"They seem to be against his cult followership as Muhammadu Buhari. If he becomes the Speaker, then it will be difficult to control him when the tenure of Zulum is over," the senator-elect said.
When he was reminded that the national chairman of the APC is from the North-central, he said: "We are talking of the National Assembly presiding offices and not party offices."
The senator-elect explained that they decided to wait till the swearing-in Tinubu as President to see his body language in the first appointments that he would make.
He said: "By the time he appoints the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and his Chief of Staff, we can see the direction of his government. For now, we will only be guessing what he will do."