Facts have emerged on why the senators expected to populate the 10th Assembly have kicked against the choice of Godwill Akpabio (Akwa-Ibom North West) as the Senate president over Senator Barau Jibrin (Kano North).
Recall that reports on how the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has blessed the ambition of the former governor of Akwa Ibom state permeated the media recently.
It detailed that while some of the senators-elect saw wisdom in the president-elect preference, others warned him to back out and not meddle in the politics of the National Assembly.
According to one of them, the choice of the president-elect was the best for the country but Akpabio’s attitude during the N81bn probe of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, in 2020, when he was the minister of the Niger Delta, is the reason his colleagues are against him.
The probe, if we recall, was the most dramatic in the history of the Nigerian national assembly. It was when the acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Prof. Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei collapsed when he was asked to testify. READ FULL STORY HERE.
Akpabio, during the probe, dared the national assembly and questioned why the legislators were only probing his five-month old financial activities instead of the whole existence of the ministry.
“How come it is only now that even our parliament has found it necessary to conduct a selective probe of NDDC? Instead of beginning from the inception, year 2001, they are now doing five months probe out of almost 20 years of existence. Why?” he queried.
Not only that, Akpabio, in his presentation, accused members of the National Assembly of having 50 per cent of contracts awarded by the NDDC.The claim by the Minister angered members of the committee who prevailed on him to name beneficiaries of the projects in the National Assembly.
Boma Goodhead (Rivers PDP), who was livid over the accusation said such claim equally implied that Akpabio who was Senate Minority Leader in the 8th Assembly must have benefited from such projects immensely.
Shehu Koko (Kebbi APC), who noted that there was such a pending allegation, demanded from Akpabio to clarify if Tunji-Ojo was one of the beneficiaries of the projects.
Akpabio, who remained adamant on the issue, however, said such contracts were usually given piecemeal to fall within the NDDC threshold. He said he could not lay his hands on specific facts at the hearing.
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Another source believed Tinubu’s preference is to ensure the Christian community in Nigeria is carried along in his administration as he was elected on a Muslim-Muslim ticket and not necessarily because of Akpabio’s contribution to the success of his election.
“It has been said again and again that the North contributed over 63% of the votes that drove Tinubu to victory, which is the reason some of our colleagues are campaigning for Jubrin, however, it is not a matter of the winner carrying everything. It is about equity.
“Tinubu wants to start on a sound footing. Sadly, by the time he did not carry all six geopolitical zones along, there would be a distraction and he might not succeed.
“Of course, if elections were to hold today, certainly, Senator Barau Jibrin will defeat other contenders hands down because he has the support of senators elected on the platform of all the parties represented in the Senate.”
And more than anything, Tinubu has always advocated for balancing in the distribution of appointments and electoral posts in the country. He always ensured he maintained this fact whenever he has the opportunities to engage publicly.
Recall that during his evergreen Emilokan campaign in Abeokuta during the run-up to the 2023 presidential election, he told his audience that he rejected President Buhari’s offer to be his running mate back in 2015 because it would be regarded as a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
@freelanews Watch the historical speech of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu before election (Part 2) #foryou #trending #naijapolitics #tiktoknaija ♬ original sound – OtunbaVictor
While Akpabio may be haunted by his disregard for the parliament and alleged corruption when he was NDDC’s minister, Jubrin doesn’t also have a clean sheet where corruption is concerned.
In 2021, the Independent Corrupt Practices and related offenses Commission, ICPC, uncovered how some members of the National Assembly, notably Jibrin, conspired with government agencies to obtain government contracts amounting to billions of naira.
Among such the contracts exposed by the ICPC are contracts awarded to Sinti Nig. Ltd, which is owned by Jibrin, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations. READ FULL STORY HERE.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
