By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Chief Whip of Ninth Nigerian Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and immediate past Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, reportedly visited former Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji AbdulAziz Abubakar Yari, after Tuesday’s inauguration of 10th Senate.
The trio share everything in common as they are former governors and are currently Senators of the Federal Republic, except that Tambuwal and Yari were in the House of Representatives.
From Left: Kalu and Yari.
Tambuwal had a step upper to be number three citizen of the country having been Speaker of the House of Representatives until he won elections and became Governor of Sokoto State in 2015 and 2019 through 2023.
Yari saved integrity of the process with his participation as the election of Senator God’swill Akpabio would have ended in a stalemate of mere charade of an imposition and one-man contest.
Details of their deliberations were not made public.
It is, however, not clear detailed behind-the-scene of event that led to outcomes seen at the Red Chamber on Tuesday and what next plans of the Yari group and opposition senators will be, as sources in touch with situation at the topmost Assembly level still have reservations about the legislative elections.
The sources’ reason for scepticism is not unconnected with feeling of their allegedly sabotaged plan to achieve a more people-based Assembly that would be devoid of executive’s manipulations.
Following the electoral process, during which – with 42 votes – the former Zamfara Governor, AbdulAziz Yari, lost to Akpabio who scored 67 votes, his colleagues, former chief whip, Senator Orji Kalu and former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aminu Tambuwal, visited him.
Yari, a major contender in the Senate President race, lost to his opponent, Godswill Akpabio with 17 votes during the National Assembly elections which took place at the inauguration of the 10th Assembly on Tuesday in Abuja.
