Protected: Senate Presidency: No Going Back, Ex-Zamfara Gov Yari Insists

Former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has dared the president-elect and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, insisting he’s still in the race for the Senate president. Yari disclosed this on Monday after attending the induction ceremony for the new and returning officers of the national assembly. He was reacting to the zoning formula which has ripped the party apart. Politics Nigeria reports that the former governor was among those aggrieved aspirants who presented a protest letter to the National Leadership of the APC last week. In the letter they warned the APC may lose out on the leadership of the national assembly if it decides to go along with the zoning formula. The party had announced Godswill Akpabio and Jibrin Barau as its choice for Senate president and deputy Senate president two weeks ago, a decision that was reportedly endorsed by the President-elect. The party has been enmeshed in crisis with other aspirants stoutly opposing the decision insisting there would be no zoning. Yari restated his position saying everyone in the national assembly was equal and the floor should be left for the elected lawmakers to decide how to conduct their affairs. “I am a loyal party man, nobody has told me that any position has been zoned to anywhere as far as the 10th national assembly is concerned,” Yari said. He added that, “Position of president of the senate is first among equals among the 109 senators. Any senator-elect who wants to occupy the position must seek the support of others which I am doing. “It is a hire and fire arrangement. I want them to hire me as president of the 10th senate on the day of the inauguration. Many of those approached by me have given their support and I won’t disappoint them.” He stressed that, “My becoming senate president on the day of inauguration lies with a decision that will be made by 108 other senators that day and nothing else.” Yari, whose propensity to generate political crises is not new, would be going head-to-head with the president-elect, whose choice of Akpabio is to ensure he delivers on his promises. As governor of Zamfara State, he was at logger heads with some senators in the party, which cost the party the governorship position in the state.