The race for the position of President of the 10th Senate hots up Tuesday as Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC Abia North), said it is his turn just as Niger Delta Youth were rooting for Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East).
Senator Kalu’s ‘Emilokan’ claim for the 10th Senate Presidency was declared while fielding questions from journalists before Senate plenary.
He said: “As a ranking Senator from the South east with enormous legislative or parliamentary experience, it is my turn to be President of the Senate.
“If I’m elected Senate President, I will be team Nigeria. I’m going to work for every corner of Nigeria.
“I schooled in Maiduguri, Borno state. I started my business in Lagos and spread it across all state capitals. My first name will be team Nigeria, my middle name will be team Nigeria and last name will be team Nigeria.
“Remember, I’m the only former governor who has never changed phone line more than 20 years ago. I’m still willing to maintain that telephone number to answer all my calls. I’m not going to switch off my phones because I’m Senate President.
“I’m hoping that Nigerians will pray for me to become Senate President because it’s my turn,” he said.
A group of young Nigerians from the various oil producing communities in the country have urged the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to consider a ranking senator from the North Central geopolitical zone as the President of the Senate in the 10th National Assembly.
The Niger Delta Progressive Youths Frontiers made the appeal in an open letter to Tinubu, signed by its secretary general, Oyinemi Nicholas Endeley, and made available to journalists in Abuja Tuesday.
The group stated that aspirants from other parts of Nigeria apart from the North Central, selfishly worked for themselves in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections because the results showed that they polled higher votes for themselves compared to what the president got in their senatorial districts.
Part of their statement reads: “As laid out above, it is no gainsaying that one region exceptionally stood out and that is the North Central.
“It is a region that has been marginalised for decades and crying for a president of North Central extraction, yet standing very strong in solidarity with you when the need arose.
“The region for long has been described in previous elections as the swing-region and it swung to your direction and in your favour. They deserve the first right of refusal to any key office under your administration.”
