Senator Abdulaziz Yari, a major candidate for the position of Senate President of the 10th Assembly, claimed that he felt betrayed by the outcome of the leadership election.
Senator Godswill Akpabio won 63 votes, leaving his opponent, Yari, with 46, during the senators’ voting for the presiding officers during the 10th Assembly’s inaugural session.
Despite the fact that the All Progressive Party’s National Working Committee had nominated Jibrin Barau and Akpabio for the positions of Senate President and Deputy Senate President, respectively, Yari had actively campaigned and kicked against the party’s choice.
Having shunned all pleas by the party and boasted of having the backing of 70 percent of the senators, Yari contested against Akpabio and lost the bid to clinch the seat of the Senate President.
Reacting to his defeat at a media brief, Yari said he felt betrayed over the outcome of the election.
Senator Yari, a former governor of Zamfara state said, “I can say there was a betrayal because as we were taking stock at 3 am on Tuesday before the election, we took stock of over 76 people in our team.
“We took into cognisance that there could be a fall out of about 15 and we had agreed that if that happens, we would comfortably still have about 61 people.
“But what we got was the reverse and yes, I felt betrayed over that outcome.”
Senator Yari, however, stated that he was ready to work with the Senate President to work serve Nigerians and build the institution of the National Assembly.
He said, “Life is a circle and as a Muslim, God had decided who would be the president of the Senate for the 10th Assembly and I have no reason not to accept what God has decided.
“I gave the Senate president, the assurance that we are going to work together as a team to protect the institution that we have.
“Also, I have a discussion with my team; I told them for the task ahead of us, we have to support the leadership so that Nigeria can grow better.”
Meanwhile, the Niger East senator, Sani Musa, has denied voting for Yari in the recently concluded National Assembly election.
A list showing how senators voted which was seen by our correspondent and had now gone viral revealed that Senator Musa voted for the former Zamfara governor.
The Niger East senator who was one of the aggrieved senators had also indicated interest in the position of the Deputy Senate President, backed down his ambition and released a statement on Monday night stating that he had aligned with the party’s choice.
Debunking the credibility of the list, Musa said, “It is very important to arrest the attention of the public on the widely circulated document containing the voting choices of Senators and the candidate they voted for.
“After carefully reviewing and scrutinizing the document, it is important that the purveyors (authors) of this fake news tell the public how 64 votes were recorded for Senator Godswill Akpabio as against the 63 votes he scored. And how Senator Abdulazeez Yari scored 45 votes in the document as against the real votes he scored of 46??
“Review and scrutiny of the document show clearly that the author(s) are on a futile attempt of sowing the seed of discord between APC NWC, Presidency, the current President of the Senate and some Senators.”
Musa noted, “We categorically state here that the list is fake, how did the manufacturer of that list know how Senators voted? The motive of that list is best known to the author as he thinks according to his or her perception of thinking and we call on the general public to ignore it.
“Senator Sani Musa voted in line with Mr. President’s aspiration. The election has come and passed, and the 109 Senators have subscribed to unite as one Senate to work for the peace, unity, and progress of the nation.”
“The public need to be extra careful with this kind of blackmail usually spread on social media and other important media platforms,” the Niger East senator added.