Group calls on Tinubu to reward Akpabio with Senate Presidency
Ini Billie, Uyo
Afe Annang, the socio-cultural organisation of the Annang people in Akwa Ibom State has called on the President-elect, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to reward Senator Godswill Akpabio with the position of the Senate President.
The group also urged members of the tenth Senate to support Akpabio and the South-South region with the position following their contributions to the emergence of Tinubu as the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party and as President-elect.
Speaking on Wednesday after the executive meeting of Afe Annang held at the Afe Secretariat, Ebibit Afaha Obong, Abak local government area, Akwa Ibom State, the group said Akpabio was the first presidential aspirant to step down for Tinubu during the APC Presidential primaries in May 2022 and secured 33 per cent votes for Tinubu from Akwa Ibom during the Presidential elections.
In a resolution signed by the Itai Afe Annang, His Majesty Blaise Udofia Awakama, and National Publicity Secretary, Rt. Hon Sunny Udom, the group unanimously resolved and declared support for Akpabio’s Senate Presidency, and congratulated him as the Senator-elect for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District.
They said Akpabio’s victory at the polls was a sent-forth mandate given to the former minister to vie for the position of the Senate President, adding that he was eminently qualified in terms of zoning, national and international connections and networking, as well as his past political records in good governance.
“As far as zoning is concerned, the South-South stands out as the zone to beat as no Senate President has ever been produced by the zone since after the late Senator Joseph Wayas left the office in 1983 – 40 years ago.
“As the only ranking APC Senator and former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio as son-in-law to the South-East should be trusted to carry the South-East and other geo-political zones along as Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should in his famed kind-heartedness reciprocate Senator Akpabio’s goodwill and foresight as he was the first co-aspirant to step down for him causing the bandwagon effect for others to step down and ensure his victory at the primaries at Eagles Square, Abuja in May 2022.
“In addition, Senator Akpabio’s sweeping victory on February 25, 2023, also ensured that the President-elect gained 33% votes which are more than the constitutional requirement of 25% in Akwa Ibom State. For the President-elect, it is also reciprocal to reward the loyalty of the South-South which gave him about 800,000 votes on February 25, 2023,” the group stated.
The group called on the South-East region which had already produced five Senate Presidents (one from each of its 5 states) in an unbroken back-to-back stream of 16 years in the Fourth Republic alone, with the support of the South-South, to see Akpabio’s candidacy as a payback period to support the South-South.
They explained that as the only ranking APC Senator and former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Akpabio as son-in-law to the South-East should be trusted to carry the South-East and other geo-political zones along as Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
They further argued that the balancing of the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the Executive arm and Muslim Chief Justice of Nigeria in the Judiciary Arm with a Christian Senate President is of paramount importance for national unity, cohesion and religious inclusion.
