Following the report that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, have endorsed Godswill Akpabio as president of the 10th Senate, the opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party have kicked.
According to Leadership, Akpabio, who joined the APC in the build-up to the 2019 general election, was reported to have the support of only 3 of the 36 senators-elect of the PDP.
Those PDP senators accepting the endorsement of Akpabio’s 10th Senate president are said to be from Rivers State and were due to the alliance between the APC and Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State.
A PDP senator-elect who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “He (Akpabio) is offering us money, but we don’t want his money because he is not principled. He will eventually sell out the Senate if allowed to emerge as the Senate president.”
The PDP caucus recalled how Akpabio was honoured with the position of the minority leader of the senate, but he betrayed the party and joined the APC in 2019. Hence, the opposition lost their trust in Akpabio’s senate presidency.
Another reason the oppositions are not in support of Akpabio becoming the next Senate president is how he was said to have embarrassed the lawmakers during the hearing of the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry under him in 2021 when the senator-elect was a minister of the ministry.
Recall that Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, has settled for Akwa Ibom senator-elect, Godswill Akpabio, to emerge as the president of the 10th Senate.
Sources revealed that the president-elect asked Senator Jibrin Barau to drop his ambition and take the position of the deputy senate president to enable his administration to start on a good foot.
Barau then agreed to allow a Christian senate president to emerge in the interest of peace, fairness, and equity in the country.
