Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, President Bola Tinubu, Wednesday night, made a strong appeal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators-elect and Members-elect to abide by the zoning arrangement as announced by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party in electing presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The APC had last month zoned the position of the President of the Senate in the 10th Assembly to the South-South with Senator Godswill Akpabio as the preferred candidate and Senator Jubrin Barau from North-West, as preferred candidate for deputy Senate President position.
Also, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and Hon. Benjamin Kalu were chosen as preferred candidates for the offices of Speaker and Deputy respectively in the next House of Representatives.
Addressing about 40 APC Senators-elect led by Senator Akpabio at the Aso Rock Villa Wednesday night, President Tinubu made a passionate appeal to all APC Senators-elect to toe the line of the party’s zoning arrangement in electing their Presiding Officers stressing that, “this is the right thing to do in support of the Renewed Hope Agenda” of his administration.
“At this point of our history and challenges facing us as a new administration, all hands must be on deck to salvage the unpalatable situation facing the nation. We must see the situation as a pan-Nigerian Project for the Executive and the Legislature to work out solutions to the challenges of the nation,” he told the Lawmakers-elect.
President Tinubu said “the task ahead to finding solutions to the myriads of national problems cannot come from the Executive arm of government alone but by the working together of the Executive and the Legislature adding that the Senators-elect present at the meeting should reach out and pass the appeal to other APC Senators-elect, who are unavoidably absent to toe the party lines and put a leash on all personal ambition in favour of party programme and national interest.
“Talk to your colleagues that are not here to toe the party line and give the Renewed Hope agenda a chance to succeed. The elephant is big enough for all members and indeed Nigerians to have a share of the Renewed Hope in due course” he admonished.
Earlier at the meeting, which lasted late into the night, Senator Akpabio, once again, congratulated the President on the successful presidential inauguration and stated that since the party announced the zoning arrangements for the leadership of the National Assembly, majority of the party’s Senators-elect led by him and Senator Barau have reached out to other APC Senators- elect and those from the opposition political parties with positive result and pledge of support.
