Nine months after inauguration of the 10th Senate, the 51 Senators from the 17 Southern States of the Federation have met on the platform of Southern Senators Forum (SSF), on Wednesday, to elect a new leadership following the emergence of the group’s erstwhile chairman, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, as the Senate Majority Leader.
The new six-man executive is led by Senator Mikail Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East) as the chairman.
The Senators, who met at the Conference Room of the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), said thier Forum, like its counterpart the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), has been in existence since the beginning of of the 9th Senate and not a newly formed forum.
Speaking at the meeting, Senator Bamidele, who served as chairman of the Forum in the previous 9th Senate, said his current position as Leader of the 10th Senate, affected him from providing the required leadership for the Forum, necessitating change of leadership which took place at the Wednesday’s meeting.
“What is happening here today is not new as both the Southern and Northern Senators fora existed even before this 10th Senate.
“At this meeting of the Southern Senators, new executive members will be announced to steer the affairs of the forum.
“The new chairman as unanimously agreed by Southern Senators is Senator Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East); Vice Chairman, Senator Victor Umeh (Labour Party, Anambra Central); Secretary, Senator Mpigi Barinada (PDP, Rivers South-East); Publicity Secretary, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (APC, Cross River South), and Treasurer, Senator Kenneth Eze (APC, Ebonyi Central),” Bamidele said.
Accepting his nomination as the new leader of the SSF, Senator Abiru in his remarks, said the Forum would serve as a veritable platform for discussing, analysing and dissecting national issues by Southern Senators for the sole purpose of moving Nigeria forward.
He added that they will partner with the Northern Senators Forum to move the country forward.
“This Forum, the Southern Senators Forum is to champion the cause of Nigeria and Nigerians. We have our Northern brothers within the Northern Senators Forum. We will work together with the Northern Senators Forum to move the country forward.
“We will swing into action and roll out our plans for the betterment of the region and Nigeria. We will map out our our plans and work on them for the betterment of Nigeria and Nigerians generally.
“Before today, we have been running the Forum in this 10th Senate as if we don’t exist but now that the last leadership has transferred power to us, the Forum would be made vibrant,” Abiru pledged.
