NASS: Tinubu ‘sneaked out’ to canvass support for Akpabio, Abass – Ndume

The Senator representing Borno South District, Ali Ndume, said Tuesday night President Bola Tinubu “sneaked out” of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to solicit support for his preferred candidates in the race for leadership positions in the National Assembly.

The former Minister of the Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, was elected the president of the 10th Senate after he defeated the former Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, in the election held in Senate Chamber on Tuesday morning.

He polled 63 votes to edge out Yari, who garnered 46 votes in the exercise.

The Senator representing Kano North, Barau Jibrin was elected the Deputy Senate President while the duo of Tajudeen Abass and Benjamin Kalu were elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Deputy Speaker respectively.

Ndume, who featured in a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, described the president as a very experienced politician who knows how to play the game.

He added that Tinubu deployed his “foot soldiers” to work for his preferred candidates’ success in the race for the National Assembly leadership.

The senator, who was the chairman of the Senate Committee for the Army in the 9th National Assembly, nominated Akpabio for the position during the plenary.

READ ALSO: 10th NASS: APC denies Islamisation agenda in zoning principle

The nomination was seconded by the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola aka Yayi.

Ndume said: “I remember the last time I contested for the senate president in 2019, everybody was on the other side because the party and president endorsed Ahmad Lawan.

“It is almost a repetition of the same thing, the party and the president had a preferred candidate but this president is an experienced politician who played a lot of politics.

“He deployed his foot soldiers to compliment our efforts and that made a difference. The vice president assisted us.

“The president called some people. He even went to some people. It is politics. He sneaked out to visit some people and begged them to support his candidates. He has his reasons and they were convincing.”

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