10th Senate Presidency: Propaganda Trails Endorsement Of Candidates As Akpabio, Yari Claim Favoured

About 12 hours to the Inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, the gladiators seeking to lead the Senate are locked in propaganda game as President’s preferred candidate, Godswill Akpabio’s camp claim to have taken the majority of Senators while Abdulaziz Yari camp debunked the claims.

While it was reported that two leading contenders for the position of the President of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu and Osita Izunaso, on Monday, met with Godswill Akpabio.

Director-General of Akpabio Campaign Council, Mohammed Ali Ndume, told newsmen that 15 senators-elect from the South East, met with Akpabio, where they reportedly endorsed his candidacy.

Similarly, the President of the 9th Senate, Ahmad Lawan, was reported to have met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Godswill, where the Yobe senator promised to deliver the former Akwa Ibom State Governor on Tuesday.

In a swift reaction, the camp of the former Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has dismissed as untrue, claims that Kalu, Izunaso, and all 15 Senators-elect from the South East have endorsed Akpabio’s ambition.

With the purported endorsement of Akpabio, Yari’s bid, may have hit the rocks and his plans of usurping the zoning arrangements, may have failed.

Speaking further, Ndume said former governors from the North, who hitherto refused to support Akpabio, have also made a U-turn. He listed Danjuma Goje, Aliyu Wamakko, Adamu Aliero, among others.

He said Sani Musa, who had settled for the position of the Deputy President of the Senate, has also stepped down and has endorsed Jibrin Barau.

One of the media directors in Yari’s camp told our correspondent that Yari’s camp is very much intact, adding what was been reported is propaganda from Akpabio’s camp.

However, a senator-elect in the camp of Yari who spoke on the condition of anonymity, explained what transpired at the meeting of the South East senators, adding that Akpabio and others only gatecrashed into the meeting.

He said: “Senator Hope Uzodinma requested a meeting with Southeast senators and he came in the company of Akpabio, Ganduje and others. He begged for support and left.

“Another meeting was called after he left where nine out of 15 unanimously voted to continue with Yari. Yari will be declared tomorrow. As no force on earth can stop God’s plan.”

When contacted, a source among Southeast senators described Akpabio’s claims as propaganda, adding, “we were holding a meeting of Southeast senators at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja when Akpabio came in.

“He addressed us and requested that we take a group picture with him. Little did we know that he would use the picture as a weapon of propaganda and blackmail.”

– Daily Independent