Ahead of Tuesday’s inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, President Bola Tinubu, who seemed determined to get candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) elected as presiding officers, has begun to pull all stops in their favour, in ensuring that both Godswill Akpabio and TJ Abbas are elected Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.

This decision also included their deputies, who are Barau Jibril as the Deputy Senate President, and Benjamin Kalu as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The president was said to have instructed everyone, especially the governors elected on the platform of his party to get to work and as well liaise with their counterparts in the opposition parties, with a view to making sure that the APC has its way today during the election of the presiding officers.

Ironically, these moves have neither deterred nor dissuaded a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdul-Aziz Yari, who is determined to upset the applecart, even though he appeared overwhelmed by the heavy deployment of the president in favour of Akpabio, Abbas, Barau and Kalu.

At the moment, the battle for the presiding officers of the 10th National Assembly has reached a crescendo with the two leading camps of Akpabio and Yari, sharply divided over their suitability to preside over the 10th Assembly.

The fierceness of the battle became more pronounced Monday night, when the camps of the two leading aspirants for the position of the Senate President –Yari and Akpabio – disagreed over alleged endorsement by the South East senators.

But the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has expressed confidence that Akpabio, being APC’s choice candidate for the 10th Senate President, would emerge victorious at today’s inauguration.

This was as the senator for the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State, Gershom Bassey, has cautioned that Nigeria’s 10th Senate could not afford to fail Nigerians, because it has the fortune of having senators in the executive arm of Tinubu’s administration.

Conversely, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Monday, said it had not directed the appointment of the minority leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives yet, because it was still faced with the election of the presiding officers.

At the same time, the Oodua People’s Frontier (OPF) and the Yoruba Patriots Alliance (YPA), have condemned the Tinubu-led government for its alleged interference in the election of principal officers of the National Assembly ahead of today’s inauguration.

Battle for the presiding officers of the National Assembly assumed a different twist when the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) not only zoned the positions to some geo-political zones, but also micro-zoned it to some states and individuals.

Akpabio and Barau Jibrin had been endorsed by the leadership of the APC to contest the presiding officers positions in the 10th Senate as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively, and are considered candidates of the president, too.

Not satisfied with the arrangement, four other aspirants for the position, Senators Abdulaziz Yari, Orji Uzor Kalu, Osita Izunaso, and Sani Musa formed an alliance, known as Senate Democratic Caucus, to challenge the Akpabio/Jibrin Stability Group.

The development had created intense rivalry among members of the same party and also caused the opposition parties to begin to plan towards bloc support for certain candidates.

While APC appeared to have succeeded in breaking the ranks of the opposition in the House of Representatives, the situation in the senate remains intense, creating panic as the National Assembly was scheduled for inauguration Monday.

There was confusion Monday in the upper chamber, when the camps of Yari and Akpabio laid claims to the support of senators-elect from the South-east geopolitical zone.

The Senate Democratic Caucus, after series of meetings, agreed that Yari should contest the senate president position, while the position of Deputy Senate President would be determined on the floor of the senate after the emergence of the senate president.

Both camps claimed they had the required number of senators that could give them victory, and brandished lists, which could not be verified by THISDAY at the time of filling this report.

Yet, there was a dramatic twist in the entire scenario Monday night, when Director General of Akpabio’s Stability Group, Senator Ali Ndume, released a statement, accompanied by sets of photographs, to the media, suggesting that their candidate had been endorsed by the South-east senators.

In the pictures, all the 15 elected senators from the South-east, including Kalu, were with Akpabio, Ndume and Opeyemi Bamidele, among other members of the Stability Group.

The statement read, “A few hours to the inauguration of the 10th Senate, two leading contenders for the position of President of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, and Osita Izunaso, on Monday, met with Godswill Akpabio.

“Similarly, President of the ninth Senate, Ahmad Lawan, also met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Godswill, where the Yobe senator promised to deliver the former Akwa Ibom State Governor on Tuesday.”

Ndume told newsmen that 15 senators-elect from the South-east had met with Akpabio and, reportedly, endorsed his candidacy. He added that with the purported endorsement, Yari’s bid might have hit the rocks.

Speaking further, Ndume said former governors from the northern geopolitical zones, who had refused to support Akpabio, had made a U-turn. He listed the ex-governors to include Danjuma Goje, Aliyu Wamakko, and Adamu Aliero, among others. He said Sani Musa, who had settled for the position of Deputy President of the Senate, had also stepped down and endorsed Jibrin.

But in a swift reaction, a senator, who was at the meeting, told THISDAY on condition of anonymity that the statement and photographs were released to the media as a mere propaganda strategy.

The senator said, “We were holding a meeting of South-east senators at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, when Akpabio came in. He addressed us and requested that we take a group picture with him. Little did we know that he would use the picture as a weapon of propaganda as blackmail.”

Meanwhile, necessary security and logistics arrangements were perfected by the management of the National Assembly for today’s inauguration. The premises of the apex legislative institution had been decorated in the country’s green and white colour, preparatory to the occasion.

Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Sani Tambawal, in a paid announcement, stated that the inauguration would hold at a makeshift chambers being used by the federal lawmakers, while their guests, other invited personalities, and accredited journalists would use the big tents erected in the arcade of the federal legislature.

A combined team of security operatives from the military, Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were seen taking positions last night.

The election of presiding officers would be the first assignment of the CNA after he had read the proclamation letter from President Bola Tinubu and completed the roll call of elected members in attendance as of 10am.

Akpabio’ll Emerge President of 10th Senate, Uzodinma Boasts

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma expressed confidence that APC’s choice candidate for Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, would emerge victorious at today’s inauguration.

Uzodimma expressed the party’s confidence while speaking with newsmen after a meeting with Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.

Uzodimma, who is also Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), said the committee set up by Tinubu to resolve the controversy over the leadership race had achieved substantial progress, in collaboration with Lawan.

According to the governor, with the level of work already done among senators and through some other state governors, it would not come as a surprise if Akpabio emerged President of the Senate.

The imo State governor assured the people that Lawan would work for the emergence of the preferred candidates of the party. He explained that his team had been working hard to ensure that the 10th National Assembly got the sort of leadership that would aid the executive to achieve desired greatness for the country.

Uzodimma said, “After the event which you all witnessed, we had a closed session with the president because what is at stake is national interest, the interest of our country and how to ensure that the new president is supported to succeed.

“All over Africa, Nigeria is being looked upon that this time around we should produce a very strong president, who will be bold and courageous in character, who will be able to deliver Nigeria to our usual space of being the leader of the continent.

“So we don’t want to allow for any domestic distraction. We are going to pledge our support, work in synergy with our senators-elect to ensure that the election of tomorrow will be free and fair. You must have heard the president, in his wisdom, organised a small technical committee to help coordinate the process of tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) election, which, by my position as the chair of the Progressive Governors Forum, I am chairing that technical committee.

“We have done so much work, to the extent that God has blessed our efforts that majority of the senators-elect are now in sync with the position of the party.”

Asked if he expected a smooth sail for the party’s candidates at Senate in the election of its leadership, Uzodinma said, “Well, substantially for a substitute consensus and by the number of people and by the efforts we have put in place, it is our hope that tomorrow it might even be a consensus event.

“But to the glory of God, we pray for that and at the same time, hoping that should we go into an election, Akpabio’s acceptance as at today cuts across the political party we belong, other political parties. There are also some same minds, who are interested in the development and progress of Nigeria, who also understand the need to safeguard democracy, as being practised in Nigeria today and they are in sync with our preferred candidate.

“Akpabio is going there to create a win-win situation for members of the parliament. He is not going there to be a dictator. He is going there to work with his colleagues. He is going there to work in synergy, collectively they will reason, collectively they will plan, collectively they will deliver the dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.

“It is about Nigeria and not about the individuals. And he is a man, too, that has the track record of performance.”

Akpabio assured his colleagues of a united 10th Senate under his leadership, listing as part of the things he would bring to the senate, “robust legislative debate, which I’ll do everything possible to ensure that we meet the aspirations of Nigerians. We will hold public hearings before we take any decision in the interest of Nigerians, for the betterment of Nigeria.”