Senate Presidency: Tinubu pitches tent with N’East against N’Central

Seems the issue of which zone gets to produce the Senate president in the 8th Assembly is not yet settled by APC, the party has the majority of members in the Upper Chamber of the federal legislative house.

Indications had emerged earlier that the party had zoned the position to the North Central geo-political zone, with former governors, Bukola Saraki of Kwara and George Akume of Benue,both members of the Senate, being pushed as front runners for the post.

Reports by This Day suggests that national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, may have withdrawn his support for Sen. Akume as his preferred candidate for the Senate presidency.

By jettisoning Akume, it is a clear indication that the North-central geopolitical zone may have lost out in its bid for the number one position in the National Assembly to the North-east zone.

It was gathered that the former governor of Lagos and his wife, Remi Tinubu on Monday night decided to pitch their tents with Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe State. In withdrawing his support for Akume, Tinubu, sources say, offered him the choice of becoming the deputy Senate president, which Akume immediately turned down.

It was also learnt that in the meeting of the North-central caucus of the APC that also took place on Monday night, when they got wind of the Senate presidency being zoned to the North-east, the news did not go down well with the leaders of the zone.

According to APC sources, the North-central caucus frowned at the continued manipulation of the system by Tinubu without considering the input of the zone to the recent electoral success of the party.

Also at the Senate plenary yesterday, Remi Tinubu who is also a senator, caused a stir when she openly campaigned for Lawan to the surprise of other senators who were still under the impression that the Senate presidency was still zoned to the North-central geopolitical zone.

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