By Chimezie Godfrey
The aspirations of Senators Godswill Akpabio and Jibrin Barau, for the office the President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate on Saturday, inched towards its actualization with further endorsement of the duo by the Presidency led by Vice president Kashim Shettima.
Speaking at the Dinner organized for supporters of the Akpabio-Barau ticket, by the Stability Group, led by former Governor of Ebonyi State and Senator-elect Dave Umahi, Vice president Shettima, for the umpteenth time reiterated the commitment and strong support of President Bola Tinubu and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) to the candidature of Senators Akpabio and Barau for the leadership of the 10th Senate.
According to him, “we are all in support of the emergence of Senators Akpabio and Barau as President of the 10th Senate and Deputy respectively. This support is intended to further engender unity and stability of the country.”
The Dinner which held at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja, had in attendance majority of Senators-elect across party lines, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume and Alhaji Kashim Imam, among numerous others.
Vice president Shettima stated further that
‘’apart from the religious angle, Senator Akpabio is very competent and he has the capacity to lead the 10th National Assembly. At the same time, he is from a very important zone and he is also a man of Christian faith. So, in line with the Constitution of our country and in conformity with the plurality of our union, the party and indeed, the President, thought it fit to support him’’
As a practical demonstration of what should be done to cement the country together as one indivisible entity, Shettima said, ‘’personally, my Chief Security Officer (CSO) is an Igbo man, who had worked with me when I was governor. He has been a dedicated and loyal officer, even in the heat of the Boko Haram attacks in Borno.
“My ADC is a Christian from the North, who has been with me for a very long time. When I appointed him, they said he is too junior by rank to be my ADC, but I insisted and even told them to make him my acting ADC pending when he would be promoted to the rank, he stressed”.
The Vice President assured the Senators- elect of his readiness to continue to work for the success and aspirations of the group by talking to those who were yet to join the group which he described as the “winning team”.
” I have been campaigning privately for Senators Akpabio and Barau and I will continue to do that till we diliver them on Tuesday. I will be leaving this dinner for another meeting with some senators who are yet to register their support”, he disclosed.
In his short speech at the well attended dinner, the chairman of the of the Stability Group, Dave Umahi, thanked the vice president and the SGF for finding time, out of their very tight schedules to visit and solidarise with the Group, assuring them of the readiness of the Senators-elect to work for Nigerians and support the Renewed Hope agenda of the President for the benefit of Nigerians.
In his remarks the SGF disclosed that even before his appointment as the SGF, he was already drumming support for the Akpabio-Barau ticket. He described the Stability Group as where to be, because the Tinubu-led administration needs all forms of support to kick-off on a very sound note.
Speaking at the event, the preferred candidates of the party, Senators Akpabio and Barau, were short of the appropriate words to use in expressing their happiness for the support their aspirations have garnered from their colleagues, when their endorsement was made public by the president and the leadership of the party.
