Embattled former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio facing mounting anger has reportedly developed cold feet and may soon quit for Zamfara governor,. Senator-elect Abdulaziz Yari, the lone vociferous opposition voice against the obnoxious zoning formula announced by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) recently.
Senator Akpabio’s rumoured option to reach out to Yari owing to mounting and unrelenting opposition within and outside the country to the obnoxious zoning formula released by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is coming as a last-ditch effort to douse the acrimony which has met the party’s choice to cede the position of the President of Senate of the 10th National Assembly to hand-pick him without the wish of majority senators-elect.
Reliable sources close to the embattled former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs hinted yesterday he has succumbed to unrelenting pressures by senators-elect, groups and political forces in the north sympathetic to ongoing campaign by former Zamfara State governor and senator-elect representing Zamfara West, Alhaji Abdullahi Yari asking the party hierarchy to reverse the contentious zoning arrangement to allow the senators-elect produce the next president of the senate in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.
The sources said that Yari’s aggressive campaign which is anchored on the need to allow the senators-elect produce their leaders without external interference has resonated well in aggrieved quarters where it is believed to have gained so much traction particularly among geo-political zones that have kicked against the zoning.
‘’We are aware that any moment from now, Senator Godswill Akpabio will reach out to Abdulaziz Yari to broker a truce. He has developeds cold feet over this vexed matter that is capable of consuming the party. We reliably learnt that his close allies who are worried about the turn of events have succeeded in persuading him to reach a truce with Yari.
‘’This is the direct fallout of the intensive and aggressive campaign which Yari has courageously mounted to the satisfaction of the north and other aggrieved geo-political zones. He has succeeded in de-marketing the APC zoning forming as an indecent, unfair, unjust, inequitable, and unconstitutional way of producing the leaders of the 10th National Assembly.
‘’Many democrats across the aisle have courageously lined behind him in the crusade to allow constitutional democracy to rule and reign in the next parliament’’, the source said yesterday, noting though they did not know what form of truce Akpabio would seek, the campaign will continue until the party did the needful.
Another source who is a senator-elect from Nasarawa State on the platform of an opposition party also told this newspaper yesterday that the angst against the zoning has turned Abdulaziz Yari into a symbol of fairness, equity and justice at the threshold of the incoming political dispensation.
‘’This movement has gone beyond Abdulaziz Yari. He no longer owns himself because of his message. He is fast-becoming a rally point for the search of a new country based on the shared values of equity and justice which the nation desperately needs at this time’’, he said.
Since the APC came out with the obnoxious zoning formula, no fewer than 25 political pressure groups and the civil society community have kicked against it, describing it as an affront to constitutional democracy in the country. Some of the groups include Niger Delta Youth Congress (NDYC), Oduwa Frontiers (OF), Coalition of Northern Group (CNG), among others.
Last week, it was also reported that hundreds of northerners converged at Arewa House, Kaduna and threatened to withdraw support for the ruling APC unless the North was given the leadership of the National Assembly, a demand that has formed the kernel of Abdulaziz Yari’s aspiration. Many groups believed to be working for him have recently placed newspaper advertisements in prominent national newspapers captioned: North West deserves Senate Presidency, in support of his aspiration to be the next president of the senate.
The advertisements read in part: ‘’Undoubtedly, the only way to say Thank You to the over 2.7million people in the North West who invested their trust in the Tinubu/Shettima presidential project is to allow one of their sons to serve as the Senate president. And beyond political expediency, the North West has competent hands for the job. His Excellency, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari (Garzon Gusau) is a bridge builder and the right man for the job.
‘’Politics is about investment and conciliation. The zone has invested heavily in the Tinubu/Shettima presidential presidential project and therefore deserves a fair recognition.
North deserves the Senate Presidency and His Excellency, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari (Garzon Gusau) is the man who the cap fits.
