Godswill Akpabio, a candidate for the Senate presidency, and his team have addressed the leadership of the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in their campaign.
Only a day after meeting with the APC leadership, Akpabio and his campaign staff met with the two opposition parties. His running mate, Barau Jibril, also attended.
Speaking to the National Working Committee of the NNPP, which is being led by its acting national chairman, Abba-Kawu Ali, Akpabio declared that his team, the Stability Group, was determined to win the backing of the opposition party’s leadership prior to the National Assembly’s inauguration on June 13, 2023.
“The Stability Group’s membership crosses party lines, and we are conducting extensive consultations,” he declared. In the 10th National Assembly, we will have eight political parties, which has never happened before.
The meeting between the President-elect and NNPP presidential candidate Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso was also confirmed by Akpabio.
“We are moving to meet our leaders because we are blind to party affiliations in the House,” he remarked. I appreciate you having us. I want to express my gratitude to your national leader Kwankwaso for meeting with our incoming president, Bola Tinubu, and I hope the meeting would be beneficial for the development of the country.
Speaking at the gathering was Ali Ndume, a former Senate leader who is now a senator for Borno South and the director general of the Akpabio Campaign Organization. He said that his group has obtained the endorsement of 69 senators elected in support of Senators Akpabio and Jubrin.
He said, “We want you to support this stability group; we have 69; who have signed. It isn’t about Akpabio or Jibrin. What the country needs now is stability, and that’s why we called the group the Stability Group.”
The Akpabio-Jubrin team was referred to as formidable by the NNPP’s acting national chairman, who also guaranteed them the backing of his party’s legislators.
I am aware that you are a formidable team, he remarked. We are aware of your performance as the governor of Akwa Ibom State. We are confident in your skill. So, based on your track record, we are backing you. Your aspiration to lead the 10th National Assembly’s Senate will have our support. However, I kindly request that your team not let Nigerians down, especially the young.
At his party’s national secretariat, Julius Abure, the Labour Party’s suspended national chairman, addressed the group and thanked them for reaching out to the leadership of the opposition parties.
“It is usually uncommon for political parties in power to consider accommodating the opposition. It is an indication that our democracy is growing. I want to say very clearly that in most of our engagement with our senators, we haven’t given them any directives. We don’t want to be dictating to them on where they should go”
“Two of my senators are here. Ireti Kingibe isn’t here, but we shall whisper to her . We need a vibrant legislature to promote our democracy, and we hope yours will be a departure from what we have. Every government policy must be such that it will affect our people positively.”
“The Constitution in Chapter 2 states that the welfare of the people and their security shall be the primary responsibility of the government. My appeal is that we give attention to the welfare of Nigerians, and the leadership of the Senate can help to make that a national priority,” he said.
Abure reiterated his party’s concerns regarding the results of the most recent general elections.
“We aren’t comfortable with the processes leading to the victory of your candidate. This isn’t the forum to vent about that but I need to put that on record. I need to correct the impression that we are supporting Asiwaju. For us, it is a no go area, but we have no doubt in Akpabio’s capacity to lead the Senate,” he said.
