Senate Presidency: Tinubu met with Akume yesterday and they talked about…

by Kolapo Olapoju

National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu met with one of the leading contenders for the Senate presidency, Senator George Akume, on Wednesday, April 29.

The meeting reportedly took place around 3pm at Tinubu’s personal residence.

It is believed that Tinubu advised Akume to put aside his ambition for the Senate Presidency and support Senator Ahmed Lawan, who represents Yobe-North senatorial district in the 8th Senate.

The battle for the Senate presidency was between the North-East and the North-Central, however, after much wranglings and lobbying, the leadership of the APC finally zoned the Senate presidency to the North-East.

A reason for this decision by the APC is because Lawan, who is from the North-East, has the backing and support of current Senate President, David Mark as well as other members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

A source privy to the development told Punch newspapers that: “Tinubu explained to Akume that Lawan and Senator Mark are very close and already, some members of the PDP support him. Lawan has a good track record in the Senate and has been backed by almost all the senators in the North-East who feel the zone has been seriously marginalised.”

“The catch there is that if the APC members in the Senate do not support Lawan and he wins the Senate presidency with bloc votes from the PDP and his friends in the North-East, he will be loyal to the PDP and may sideline us just as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, attributed his victory to the APC back in 2011 even though he was a member of the PDP.”

“Mark will definitely do everything possible to ensure that Akume does not emerge Senate President if we pick Akume because they are not on good terms. Tinubu told Akume that he sacrificed his presidential ambition for the sake of the party. Tinubu, therefore, urged Akume to settle for the Deputy Senate presidency or Senate Majority Leader.”

Furthermore, the report stated that another reason why Akume was asked to step down is because the North-Central, where he hails from, had been holding the Senate presidency since 2007 while the North-East had never held the leadership position of the Senate Nigeria’s independence.

 

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