By Kassim Kola Adeyemi
Abuja – A Northern political group, Arewa Youth of Nigeria (AYON) says the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) should be ready to face the consequences of its ongoing move to impose Senator Godswill Akpabio as the President of the 10th Senate.
The group which stated this in Abuja on Saturday said the APC’s move portends danger for the country’s nascent democracy, calling on the leadership of the party to immediately retrace their steps.
The APC had named Senator Godswill Akpabio and Jibrin Barau as anointed candidates for the President and Deputy of the Senate.
However, the purported zoning has been causing upheaval within the ranks and file of the APC.
The decision is also being rejected by party members and key stakeholders in the North West, North East and North Central parts of the country.
The North West is the biggest contributor to the victory of the APC in the February 25 presidential election while the North Central and North East are the third and fourth contributors of votes for the party in the election.
Their votes and that of the South West which is the second largest contributors votes in the election led to the victory of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC.
AYON has been one of the groups kicking against the choice of Senator Godswill Akpabio for the Senate Presidency.
The Northern youth group cited a Thisday online Newspaper comment of Friday, 26th May, 2023 which is also against the Akpabio Senate presidency as confirmation of their fears.
The Secretary General of the group, Mallam Aliyu Mustapha in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday said the publication by the newspaper ” is enough for Nigerians to come to terms with why Senator Akpabio should not be made President of the senate.
The newspapers’ article reads in part ; “Now we await, in raging stupefication, the imposition of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the Senate president and the chairman of the national assembly.
“Spanning the last two decades, his public career has come to symbolise a study in the utility of public corruption and impunity for upward mobility in the ladder of political leadership in Nigeria.
“The tragedy of contemporary Nigeria is the extent to which the perfidy of mindless corruption has been upstaged (by the impunity of how much you can rub the nose of Nigeria in this mud) by the open tender of a pedigree of unspeakable stolen public resources as credentials for higher office.
“To prove the point is the pending coronation of Akpabio as the next Nigeria’s Senate president.
“In his preceding successive occupations as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator and Senator-elect, he has left behind tons of evidence on his exploitation of those offices as conduit pipes for unprecedented embezzlement.
“As Governor of Akwa Ibom State, he has a pending case of “withdrawal of N18billion from the state’s coffers under the guise of special services, reception of very important guests and sundry items; acquisition of some assets through surrogates, including a multi-billion naira mansion at Plot 5, Ikogosi Spring Close, off Katsina-Ala Crescent, Maitama-Abuja; a multi-billion naira mansion at Plot 28 Colorado Close, Maitama, Abuja; 22 Probyn Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; Plot 23 Olusegun Aina Street, Parkview, Lagos and a multi-billion naira 25-storey building at Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
“As Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, he was the star culprit in the allegations of N40 billion fraud perpetrated in the NDDC, a ministry which was headed by Akpabio for three years.
“The Senate over which he will preside resolved in 2020 to probe the alleged N40 billion financial recklessness of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC.
“Less than two months ago, he was detained by EFCC for two hours after attempting to bribe agency chairman with $350,000.
“The trillion naira question is: How does Akpabio proceed from this immediate background to become the President of the Nigerian Senate?”, the article queried.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
