Ahead of the June 13 inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, President Bola Tinubu has appealed to All Progressives Congress, APC, Senators-elect to abide by the zoning arrangements as announced by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party last month.

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The APC has zoned the President of the Senate to the South-South, with Senator Godswill Akpabio the preferred candidate and Senator Jibrin Barau from North-West as Deputy Senate President.

Tinubu, according to sources, while addressing over 43 APC senators-elect led by Senator Akpabio at the Aso Rock Villa late Wednesday night, made a passionate appeal to them to toe the lines of the party’s zoning arrangement in electing their presiding officers, stressing that it is the right thing to do in support of the Renewed Hope agenda of his administration.

“At this point of our history and challenges facing us as a new administration, all hands must be on deck to salvage the unpalatable situation facing the nation.

“We must see the situation as a pan-Nigerian project for the executive and the legislature to work out solutions to the challenges of the nation,” he stressed.

The President said the task ahead to finding solutions to the myriads of national problems cannot come from the executive arm of government alone, but from jointly working together of the executive and the legislature.

He added that the senators-elect present at the meeting should reach out and pass the appeal to others unavoidably absent to toe the party line and put a leash on all personal ambition in favour of party programme and national interest.

“Talk to your colleagues that are not here to tow the party line and give the Renewed Hope agenda a chance to succeed. The elephant is big enough for all members and indeed Nigerians to have a share of the Renewed Hope in due course,” he admonished.

Earlier on at the meeting which ended around 11pm, Senator Akpabio congratulated the President on his successful inauguration and stated that since the party announced the zoning arrangements for the leadership of the National Assembly, majority of the party’s senators-elect, led by him and Senator Barau, had reached out in consultation to other senators-elect, including those from the opposition political parties with positive result and pledge of support.