Sen. Godwin Akpabio, the former minister of Niger Delta affairs, was named as the consensus candidate for Senate presidency in the 10th Assembly by the All Progressives Congress on Monday.
As the next Deputy Senate President, the ruling party elected Senator Jibrin Barau, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
The APC zoned the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-West and the Senate presidency to the South-South.
Tajudeen Abbas, a lawmaker from Kaduna, was given the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Green Chamber, and Ben Kalu, a representative-elect from the South-East, won the position of Deputy Speaker.
The National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, informed journalists that only the zoning of the two main offices in both the Senate and House of Representatives had so far been decided after leaving a crucial three and a half hour meeting of the National Working Committee of the party.
Morka, who was accompanied by Dr. Betta Edu, the National Women Leader of the APC, and Hajia Zainab Ibrahim, the Deputy National Women Leader, assured Nigerians that the party’s leadership would continue to consult with all relevant parties.
He claims that during their meeting on Friday, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, was consulted regarding the zoning and consensus candidates.
He said, “The National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress met today (Monday) to consider reports of consultations and meetings held on the zoning arrangement for leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly with His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, other party leaders, and stakeholders.
The outcome of the meetings between the President-elect and the NWC leadership was noted by the NWC with respect. In order to guarantee the support of the candidates for leadership positions in the National Assembly and party members across the country, the NWC called for more extensive and improved consultation with the necessary stakeholders.
