Senators from the opposition political parties have rejected the alleged plot by the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar to handpick former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, as the Senate Minority leader.
The senators expressed their dissatisfaction in Abuja yesterday on the conditions of anonymity.
They alleged that Atiku had submitted Tambuwal’s name and those of other preferred senators to be appointed as principal officers of the 10th National Assembly, to the leadership of the PDP.
The senators in separate reactions to journalists in Abuja have therefore vowed to resist Atiku’s alleged moves to impose Tambuwal on them.
They vowed to repeat what they did to resist the imposition of Senator Godswill Akpabio, by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu on the Senate.
They noted that the majority of the opposition senators voted for Senator Abdul-Aziz Yari, during the senate presidency contest.
A PDP Senator from Rivers State, another senator from the North-Central, and a ranking senator from the South-West geopolitical zones, made their grievances known in separate comments while speaking with some journalists, strictly on the condition of anonymity.
The federal lawmakers said the sensitivity of the issue would not allow them to disclose their identities for now.
They, however, threatened to do so later if the situation persists.
*Lawmakers vow to reject Atiku’s choice of Tambuwal
The senators also vowed to resist attempts to impose Tambuwal on them.
They expressed their readiness to vote for any person other than him.
Some of the minority Senators who spoke after their meeting said they would not allow anyone to use the minority leader position to negotiate for self-preservation and to run for the presidential election in 2027.
One of them said, “You can trace the major political activities of Tambuwal for the past decade.
“In 2019, He went against his party, the PDP, and a sitting president to rubbish the PDP zoning arrangements just because it favoured him; he always plays ethnic and religious card when it favours him.
“When he became speaker with the support of opposition elements (that is Tinubu, Muhammadu Buhari, and other leaders), he used the platform of speakership to effectively rubbish the presidency of Goodluck Johnathan and the PDP.
“He later defected and abandoned the party that made it possible for him to be Speaker and moved the APC and negotiated to be governor.
“Buhari, Tinubu, but he decided to align with Atiku and came back to PDP with the APC mandate that was given to him with the hope of running for the presidency.
“Wike against all odds backed him and promised to deliver the presidential nomination to him but Thank God that did not succeed.
“In 2021 he again went for a presidential visit but this time did not get Wike’s support. This is the record of the politician Atiku wants to foist as minority leader of the party.
“Also, his senatorial election in Sokoto is now being contested; he was desperate to come to the Senate with the ambition that he would be rewarded with the position of the senate president.
“When it emerged that the PDP did not get the majority and with the defeat of Atiku and Okowa, Atiku and the PDP then changed their plan to make him a minority leader to compensate him.
“This explains why the PDP and other opposition senators are rejecting him saying that he has an antecedent of placing ambition over party, friendship, and anything else and that kind of person is not going to have their support,” another senator said
It was learnt that Wike and his group are capitalising on this to mobilise support for a senator from the North-Central who will be unveiled soon.
