President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday made a strong appeal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators-elect to adhere to the zoning arrangements as declared by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), ahead of the inauguration of the 10th Senate on June 13, 2023.
Sen. Godswill Akpabio was designated as the chosen candidate by the APC last month, and Sen. Jubrin Barau from the North West was designated as the preferred candidate for vice president of the Senate in the tenth Senate.
President Tinubu passionately appealed to all APC Senators-elect to follow the party’s zoning arrangement when electing their Presiding Officers at the Aso Rock Villa on Wednesday night. He emphasised that “this is the right thing to do in support of the Renewed Hope agenda” of his administration.
“At this point in our history and the challenges facing us as a new administration, all hands must be on deck to salvage the unpalatable situation facing the nation. We must see the situation as a pan-Nigerian Project for the Executive and the Legislature to work out solutions to the challenges of the nation,” he told the Senators-elect.”
President Tinubu admonished: “The task ahead to finding solutions to the myriads of national problems cannot come from the Executive arm of government alone but by the working together of the Executive and the Legislature. He added that the senators-elect present at the meeting should reach out and pass the appeal to other APC Senators-elect, who is unavoidably absent to toe the party lines and put a leash on all personal ambitions in favour of the party programme and national interest.
“Talk to your colleagues that are not here to toe the party line and give the Renewed Hope agenda a chance to succeed. The elephant is big enough for all members and indeed Nigerians to have a share of the Renewed Hope in due course.”
The majority of the party’s senators-elect, led by Senators Akpabio and Barau, have reached out to other APC senators-elect and those from the opposition political parties with positive results and a pledge of support since the party announced the zoning arrangements for the leadership of the National Assembly. Senator Akpabio, earlier at the meeting, which went late into the night, congratulated the President on the successful presidential inauguration.
