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Hours after Senator Godswill Akpabio emerged as the President of the 10th Senate, his colleague, Senator Ali Ndume disclosed that President Bola Tinubu begged some lawmakers to vote for Akpabio.
Ndume disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
According to him, the former governor of Akwa-Ibom State has what it takes to lead the Senate, adding that he was the preferred choice of the president and the party.
He said, “The party and the president had a preferred candidate. This President because he is an experienced politician played a lot of politics in it. He deployed his foot soldiers to complement our effort. And that made a difference. The vice president was on it.
“He himself had called some people. The president sneaked out and visited some people and begged them to vote for Akpabio. He has his reasons. His reasons are convincing. From the beginning he (Tinubu) said that let somebody from the South South be the Senate President because they have not had it since 1999.”
Akpabio defeated the former governor of Zamfara State, Abdul-Azeez Yari to become the President of the Senate.
The former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs secured 63 votes to defeat Yari, who secured 46 votes.