A group, Arewa Network of Social Reformers, (ANSR), has said the Southsouth region helped the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to get 25 per cent of the 2/3rd of states to win the presidential elections, hence should be rewarded with the seat of the Senate President of the 10th Assembly.
President of ANSR, Engineer Idris Musa, said this during a press conference on Wednesday.
ANSR noted that the Southeast had allegedly worked against the president-elect and gave all their votes to Peter Obi, hence the region should not be rewarded where it did not sow at the expense of the well-deserving people of the South-south zone.
It however, disclosed that Senator Godswill Akpabio has the democratic credentials to lead the 10th Assembly because he has both administrative and legislative experience.
“He has exemplified leadership with his uncommon transformation agenda as an 8-year governor of Akwa Ibom and has served the Red Chamber as its Minority Leader he has distinguished himself in both capacities that in leadership and in responsibilities.
“It is on record that Godswill Akpabio steps down for the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the APC presidential primaries in Abuja, the man has made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of APC.”
ANSR said that the Southeast have, had it share, haven occupied the position five times since the commencement of the Fourth Republic, but the Southsouth have not had the opportunity to occupy the position of the Senate President since the inception of the Fourth Republic.
“Southeast gave Tinubu 0/5 of their states, Southsouth gave him 5/6 of their states, Southeast gave Tinubu 6 per cent of their votes while Southsouth gave him 30 per cent of their votes.
“The Southeast senators that won their seats selfishly worked for themselves only in the election and neglected Tinubu.
“Thus they had huge numbers for themselves while Tinubu had almost nothing from their places.
“The Southsouth senators that won their seats worked for both themselves and Tinubu. Thus, they both had huge numbers of their places.
“The entire Southeast zone gave Tinubu a paltry 127,000 votes.
Cross River State alone, which is not even the highest in their zone, gave him 130,000 votes, and as a zone, Southsouth gave him 800,000 votes.
“The trend of APC’s votes in the Southeast is falling in every election since 2015; while the Party’s votes in the Southsouth have been rising in every election since 2015,” the ANSR president explained.
Engr. Musa also said that ANSR, a coalition of 26 young professionals from the 19 Northern states plus Abuja tagged the press conference with the Hausa word “Raba gardama” a balancer, a unifying factor, the apostle of uncommon transformations.
“We are openly rooting our support for His Excellency, Senator Godswill Akpabio, but before we took this decision, we have made a wide range of consultations with different shades of opinions and critical stakeholders within our region to seek their words of wisdom and support; they have since blessed the motive of our struggle,” he said.
