The dust over the leadership of the Nigerian Senate may not have settled as THE WHISTLER has been authoritatively informed of a plot to cause the impeachment of Godswill Akpabio as Senate President when the National Assembly resumes from its two-month annual leave on September 26.
This newspaper was informed that the Senators behind the plot are currently meeting in Saudi Arabia to perfect the plan before the resumption of plenary.
Leading the charge are Senators Abdulaziz Yari, the All Progressive Congress senator from Zamfara State, and Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party from Sokoto State.
Yari was the main challenger of Akpabio for the senate presidency while Tambuwal was one of his key backers.
Mohammed Onawo Ya’u Sumaila, another PDP senator from Nasarawa State, is also said to be among the leaders of the move to convince other senators to sign on to the impeachment plot.
The plotters, who claim to be fighting for the independence of the legislature, are citing alleged subservience of Akpabio to the Presidency as the main reason why he must be pushed aside.
The senators are said to be capitalizing on President Bola Tinubu’s aggressive handling of the Niger coup, which raised temperatures in the northern parts of the country, as the reason to have a legislature that is capable of checking him.
The senators are also using some of the policies of the Tinubu government perceived as anti-people (including the removal of fuel subsidy) to whip up sentiments in favor of ousting the current leadership of the senate and replacing Akpabio with Yari.
Yari, a former governor of Zamfara, broke ranks with the leadership of the APC when it announced Akpabio as its candidate for the senate presidency in early June, insisting he was the right person to head the senate.
Yari’s group, according to Senator Suleiman Samaila, who’s a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) representing Kano south, had done its own zoning of the senate positions.
He had said during an Arise Tv interview in June, “We did a conventional zoning ourselves, we picked Abdulaziz Yari from the north-west, and we are planning to pick the deputy senate president from the south-east, it shows you that we have done balancing.”
Yari himself had told a group from the South-south who paid him a courtesy call in Abuja before the election that “only God installs a king” while taking a swipe at the leadership of his party who chose Akpabio over him.
But with the new plot being hatched in Saudi Arabia, Yari and his group are no longer leaving it to God.
A highly placed source privy to the scheme told THE WHISTLER on Friday night that Yari is wooing opposition senators to perfect his plan to take over the senate.
“They are currently in Saudi Arabia where they are perfecting plans to ensure Akpabio is removed,” the source said.
“They claim he’s too subservient to the president and he’s not allowing the senate to question the presidency and act as a check.”
While announcing the standing committees of the Senate before the break in August, Akpabio named Yari as the chairman of the Committee on Water Resources while Tambuwal leads the Housing Committee.
Reuben Abati
