Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, has asked a group of former senators to pray for him and Jibrin Barau, senator representing Kano north.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had nominated Akpabio and Barau for the positions of senate president and deputy in the incoming 10th national assembly.
But the party’s decision has stirred controversies as contenders for the positions have expressed displeasure about the choices.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at a meeting with 76 former senators – including Ameh Ebute, an ex-senate president – Akpabio expressed dismay that first-term senators were seeking to be presiding officers.
The former minister said a senator-elect would have to be sworn in first before aspiring to be a presiding officer.
“When I see people who are coming into the national assembly and particularly the senate of the federal of Nigeria. Senators-elect for the first time. Who will swear them in? What you (former senators) have done is to give direction as elders,” he said.
“That having been in that hallowed chamber, it is important to give direction. That there will be a senate president first who will swear in the senators-elect before the senators-elect begins to aspire to the senate president.
