There have been reports suggesting that Bola Tinubu, the President-elect, has set a condition for the former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, in order to reach a consensus on a Senate aspirant.
Bellnewsonline.com r Ineports that according to sources, Tinubu asked Akpabio to provide evidence of his popularity for the Senate presidency contest by producing 60 senators who have endorsed him.
Sources claimed that Akpabio followed Tinubu to Rivers State earlier this week to convince him by presenting the 41 senators-elect who showed their support for Tinubu during a state banquet organized in Port Harcourt in honor of the President-elect, Vanguard reports.
Akpabio said: “They (senators-elect) are the ones that are going to evaluate your policies. They are the ones that are going to advise on a daily basis and they are the ones that are going to show you total loyalty to bring peace to Nigeria.
“Standing before you here are senators from NNPP, senators from Labour Party, senators from PDP, senators from YPP and senators from APC.
“Mr. President, we have 109 senators but 60 of us were supposed to be here tonight. We did not have enough aircraft to convey everyone.”
However, it is unclear if this display of support from Akpabio and his colleagues was enough to meet Tinubu’s condition for an endorsement.
Sources suggest that Tinubu may choose to remain neutral in the leadership contests to avoid any appearance of bias that could be counterproductive if his preferred candidates fail to win.
As it stands, there are several aspirants vying for the position of Senate President, including Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, Sani Musa, Godswill Akpabio, and Abdulaziz Yari.