Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 10th Senate have insisted on producing the Majority Leader.
Those who spoke in separate interviews with ThisNigeria, on conditions of anonymity in Abuja yesterday, condemned alleged moves by some South-West lawmakers to produce a Yoruba Majority Leader.
They said doing so could further divide the Red Chamber.
Two ranking senators, Messrs Abdulfatai Buhari (Oyo North) and Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), are currently contesting the position of Senate Majority Leader from the South-West geopolitical zone.
However, one of the northern senators wondered why the campaign coordinator of the President of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, was not appointed as the Majority Leader, since there were, already, established precedents.
He urged the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC to address the alleged imbalance in the Senate, insisting that senators from the North are currently feeling marginalised.
He said, “We know the Director of Akpabio’s campaign, and we know his deputy.
“When Ahmad Lawan campaigned and he became the Senate President, it was the Director-General of his campaign organisation, Abdullahi Yahaya, that became the Senate Leader.
“When Senator Ali Ndume was the campaign director for Senator Bukola Saraki, he became the Senate Leader.
“When Ndoma Egba was made the campaign coordinator for David Mark, he became the Senate Leader.
“I wonder why the deputy campaign coordinator of Senator Godswill Akpabio should be made the Senate Leader as opposed to the coordinator.”
Another ranking senator from the North, who spoke along the line, explained that the leadership of the Senate and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) should handle the issue with care to avoid a possible crisis in the 10th Senate.
He said, “If not for some of us, Akpabio would have lost. Despite the fight that we put on, we escaped with only 17 votes because Senator Abdulaziz Yari needed only nine votes to win.
“He (Yari) got 46 votes. More than 20 senators in Akpabio’s camp are there because of some of us from the North, not because of Akpabio. These are facts.
“The senators they are pushing for from the South-West have never been in the leadership. Ndume was a Minority Leader. He was a Senate Leader. He led the campaign for Akpabio and he’s a ranking senator.”
In the meantime, some senators had also faulted Akpabio’s appointment of two southern Christians as his Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff.
They alleged that the development would make Akpabio inaccessible to his colleagues from the northern part of the country.
Akpabio had on Monday appointed Sylvester Okonkwo as his Chief of Staff and Saviour Enyiekere, as his Deputy Chief of Staff.
Okonkwo is from the South-East geopolitical zone, while Enyiekere is from the South-South.
One of the northern senators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “How can he appoint Chief of Staff and Deputy all from the South? The deputy should be from the North.
“If he had sought our advice, he would have appointed his Chief of Staff from the South and the Deputy from the North. It is wrong,” the aggrieved Northern senator stated.
One of the senators loyal to Akpabio from the South-West, said the appointment of the principal officers for the National Assembly was the exclusive preserve of the political party leadership.
The senator added that the Senate President would soon make more appointments that would take care of all interests, in exercise of his constitutional duties.
According to him, “The Senate President cannot make any input to the appointment of the presiding officers. It is the sole responsibility of the political party.
“Whoever that is interested should get the support of his geopolitical zone’s caucus in the Senate and lobby the leadership of the APC.
“Concerning the issue of appointments, the Senate President is aware of the ethnic and religious diversity of the country. He will ensure that all his appointments take care of all interests.”
