Senate Presidency: Yari Fumes, Accuses Colleagues Of Betrayal
Former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, is unhappy that some of his colleagues allegedly betrayed him during the Senate presidency election which saw Senator Godswill Akpabio emerging as the preferred candidate for the National Assembly topmost position.
Yari’s displeasure with fellow lawmakers is coming days after former Akwa-Ibom State Governor and Senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West floored him as the anointed candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In emerging President of the 10th Senate on Tuesday, Akpabio polled a total of 63 votes to beat Senator Yari who was credited with amassing 46 votes in the presidential contest.
But a disappointed Yari, who represents Zamfara West senatorial district in the National Assembly (NASS), claimed; “Yes, I can say there was a betrayal. That’s the truth because as we were taking stock as of 3 am, Monday-Tuesday election, we took stock of over 76.
“But as usual, human beings, we thought we are going to get a pullout of about 15 which we will have a comfortable 61 to win the election”.
The former Governor explained in an interview granted on Thursday in Abuja that his camp’s permutations as of 3 am on Tuesday indicated no less than 61 out of the 109 available votes would be cast in their favour, adding that the number was enough to capture the Senate Presidency without much ado.
He said though the obvious betrayal by colleagues was quite unexpected and disappointing, only God knows and remains the judge of how things turned out that way. “Only God knows what happened. So, I feel betrayed but life continues and it’s a cycle”, he said
With Akpabio’s victory settled, another APC’s preferred choice, Senator Jibrin Barau, who represents Kano North Senatorial District, had a smooth sail emerging unopposed as the Senate Deputy President to succeed Ovie Omo-Agege who did not return to the National Assembly following his failed attempt at becoming the Governor of Delta State
