Shettima: Worst Southern Christian Better Than Most Puritanical Northern Muslim for Senate President

*CNG expresses concern over alleged plan to arrest Yari, others

*Aggrieved APC members partner minority parties for speakership

Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged senators-elect to vote for the anointed candidates of the All Progressives Congress for the position of Senate President and Deputy Senate President in the 10th National Assembly, saying, “under the current dispensation, the worst, the most incompetent southern Christian is better than the most puritanical northern Muslim for the presidency of the Senate.”

This was as the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), has expressed  worry over an alleged plan to intimidate and arrest key northern aspirants for the House of Representatives speakership position and the Senate Presidency.
Also, some aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have partnered the minority parties to alter the APC zoning arrangements for the presiding officers.

However, Shettima, who stated this on Saturday night at a dinner organised by the Stability Group for newly elected senators in Abuja, addressed senators from the North, who were being swayed by Yari’s narrative of marginalisation of the North that voted overwhelmingly for President Bola Tinubu.
The Stability Group was formed by the senators, who are campaigning for the election of Senators Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin, who had both being anointed by the APC for the position of Senate President and Deputy Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.

Shettima and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, were among those who addressed the guests, who the organisers put at 70. They met with senators-elect, from the APC, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party,and  the All Progressives Grand Alliance  
Shettima said it would not be fair and just to have Muslims at the helms of affairs of the three arms of government, saying, “Here we are with a Muslim President and a Muslim Vice President in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity like ours. I was a child of circumstance
“Equity, justice and fairness demands that the number three citizen of this country should be of the Christian. What binds us together supersedes what ever divides us. But most importantly we should make deliberate efforts to take inclusivity in governance. This is a young nation, where every community will like to have fair representation on the dinner table of their kinsmen

“Politics is about perception, politics is about optics.  I want to appeal to your conscience. There is stability and inclusivity and togetherness of this nation supersedes the depth of our pockets, stability of our pockets. We are talking about the sustainability of the nation. The nation is at a crossroads.
“Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 all of the same faith for God sake. I’m ready to kneel down and beg my colleagues for the sake of the nation. This is for the survival of this nation. Apart from the religious angle, Senator Akpabio is very competent and he has the capacity to lead the 10th National Assembly. At the same time, he is from a very important zone and he is also a man of Christian faith.
“So, in line with the Constitution of our country and in conformity with the plurality of our union, the party and indeed, the President, thought it fit to support him,” adding that the gathering was a practical demonstration of what should be done to cement the country together as one indivisible entity.
According to him, “Personally, my Chief Security Officer (CSO) is an Igbo man, who had worked with me when I was governor. He has been a dedicated and loyal officer, even in the heat of the Boko Haram attacks in Borno.

“My ADC is a Christian from the North, who has been with me for a very long time. When I appointed him, they said he is too junior by rank to be my ADC,  but I insisted and even told them to make him my acting ADC pending when he would be promoted to the rank.”
The Vice President assured the Senators-elect of his readiness to continue to work for the success and aspirations of the group by talking to those, who were yet to join the group which he described as the “winning team”.
His word: “I have been campaigning privately for Senators Akpabio and Barau and I will continue to do that till we diliver them on Tuesday. I will be leaving this dinner for another meeting with some senators who are yet to register their support. I am ready to beg my colleagues. I don’t want to mention their names but I am sure I will bring about five to join this group.  

“My friend, Ibrahim Geidam will give us all the senators from Yobe State. I am working on Taraba. Let me leave it here, I don’t want to expose all my strategy. This is about the survival of the nation. Here, we have  a Muslim President and Vice President in a multi ethnic country like Nigeria.
Justice and  equity demands that the number three person must be a Christian. We must strive for inclusivity. This is a young nation where every community will like to be given a sense of belong. We are talking about the sustainability of the nation.”
The Director General of the Stability Group Senator Ali Ndume, said, “We are 62 senators-elect in this room and by the time the former Deputy Governor of River State comes on board we will be 63.  We also have seven people who are on this group who took permission. The immediate past governor of Niger State is also a co-chairman of our group.

“Everyone who is in this hall are people we are very sure of, others couldn’t make it because of the short notice. We have 73 people who have signed for us, we are working very hard to support you in your course for the stability of this country.”
Akume in his comments, said the stability group “appreciates the value of diversity. Diversity if not well managed can lead to disaster. Society has collapsed because they can’t manage diversity. Your focus is stability of the polity. With the number I have seen today, this is the winning team. I wish you the best of luck on Tuesday.”
 Akpabio said, “This group is across party lines, we will continue to bond together. This is a group of friends, brothers and sisters. We have one thing in mind: stability of Nigeria. We want to assure you that this is the way to go. I also want to assure us that we shall succeed on Tuesday.”

CNG Expresses Concern Over Alleged Plan to Arrest Yari, Others

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), has expressed  worry over an alleged plan to intimidate and arrest key northern aspirants for the House of Representatives speakership position,  as well as the aspirants to the Senate Presidency.
Spokesperson of the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement alleged that former Governor of Zamfara state Abdulaziz Yari and some of his strong support pillars were being threatened with arrest in order to intimidate him out of the contest for insisting on due process.
“We understand too that the sinister plot also extends to aspirants to positions in the House of Representatives, who are targeted for undue harassment and intimidation. This plot, as widely speculated, involves the introduction of a suspicious electronic voting system in the process meant to track the pattern of voting in the National Assembly,” it said.

The Northern group also expressed concern over plans to block lawmakers-elect opposed to the Senate Presidency’s ambition of Senator Godswill Akpabio from gaining access to the National Assembly on the day of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly.
The CNG said it was worried that these elements were hatching these evil plans without the consent of President Bola Tinubu, with the sole aim of pitching him against the larger northern interest.

Aggrieved APC Members Partner Minority Parties for Speakership

Some aggrieved members of the APC have partnered the minority parties to alter the zoning arrangements for the presiding officers.
This plan is projected on the grounds that the aggrieved APC and their minority  senators-elect were 67 in number, while in the House of Representatives, they commanded a simple majority of 181 to 179
It was gathered that two principal amendments by the aggrieved APC members supported by the aggrieved APC members  would be that the speaker of the House of Representatives would come from the South-south.

They also proposed that the Senate President would now be altered to come from the North West, and that a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdullaziz  Yari wasprojected to become the Senate President.

The former governor of Abia state, Orji  Uzor Kalu who is senate minority leader may contest for the deputy senate president, the northcentral zone will get the office of the deputy speaker of the House. No presiding slot was hitherto given to the North Central.

In this new arrangement perfected Friday in Abuja, the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives will come from Edo State, where a returning member of the House from the Owan Federal Constituency of Edo state, Julius Ihonbvere, will contest for the office of the Speaker. He was Secretary to the Edo state Government.