From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused those opposed to the zoning of the Senate presidency to the South South of deliberately laying a stumbling block for President Bola Tinubu in the National Assembly.
He asserted that anybody who loves and believes in the unity of the country, and wants the Tinubu-led government to succeed would not hesitate to ensure the next Senate president goes to the South South as already determined by the president and the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership.
“There is something going in the country now about the Senate presidency and the House leadership, and everybody knows my position. My position is that the (Senate) presidency should come to the South South. We are not talking about the presidency of the country now, we are done with that.
“If you agree that (Senate) presidency should go to the South, tell me the truth, where should it go? It can’t be in the South West. It can’t be in the South East. South South has only produced one Senate president, far back in 1979, Joseph Wayas. South East has produced over seven,” he said during a media chat in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
He said those who were averse to President Tinubu’s presidential ambition were still hellbent on laying stumbling block for him at the National Assembly, through their opposition to his preferred choice of former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, as the next Senate president.
The former Rivers State governor maintained that if there is no cordial relationship between the leadership of the National Assembly and the presidency, the country would be distracted by the unnecessary power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of government.
Wike disclosed that President Tinubu and the APC national leadership’s preference for Akpabio, a Christian, is part of a deliberate strategy aimed at dispersing the misconception generated by the choice of former Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as the president’s running mate. According to him, by backing Akpabio and appointing the former Benue State governor, George Akume, as Secretary to the Federation, President Tinubu has demonstrated his sincerity to balance the faith question raised by the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket in the last presidential election.