At least 65 senators-elect are currently backing the Senate Presidency bid of Sen. Abdulaziz Yari.
This new upswing in the rank of senators backing Yari is causing a lot of panic and tension in the camp of Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Akpabio and his backers are said to have hatched a new plot to stop Yari by all means. Tagged ‘Stop Yari’, the plot according to a source, is to make sure that Yari does not participate in the election on the floor of the Senate tomorrow.
The source, who did not want his named disclosed, noted that Akpabio and his backers are now convince that if Yari is nominated on the floor of the Senate to contest for the office of Senate President, he would win because of the number of senators that are currently backing him.
According to the source, “The Akpabio group wants to stop him from contesting. They don’t want Yari to be a candidate for Senate President on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.
“Presently, they are trying extremely hard to cajole, intimidate and blackmail to withdraw from the Senate Presidency race. Akpabio and his backers are using every arsenal at their disposal to blackmail Yari. Mainly, the Presidency is leading this aspect of the plot. Anti-corruption agencies of government and the security agencies could be deploy at a moment to stop Yari.
“The Akpabio backers are also frantically reaching out to individual senators-elect, who are supporting Yari to pull out. The carrot and stick approach is being used to get the senators to pull out from Yari’s camp and back Akpabio. The Presidency is also deeply involved in this effort.
“If everything else fails, then the Akpabio camp and his Presidency backers are determined to make sure Yari is not available to be nominated for Senate President on the floor of the Senate tomorrow.
“Detention and arrest of Yari in whatever guise is what they intend to use to stop Yari. They intend to use the institution of the Presidency to carry out the plot. This is despite the fact that Yari has two court orders preventing and stopping his invitation or detention until after the election of principal officers of the Senate.
“Also, one of the options that is being explored to stop Yari is to prevent some senators-elect supporting Yari from getting to the Senate chambers for the voting. The Akpabio group believes this will reduce the number of senators that would vote for Sen Yari and tilt the votes in favour of Akpabio.
“The desperation of the Akpabio camp is now on overdrive. They believe the only way Akpabio can win is by consensus where he will be the only one that will be nominated for the office of Senate President. They want to make sure that they stop Yari from contesting the Senate President election by all means, using the the Presidency and instrumentality of institutions of government.“
One of the senators-elect supporting Yari, who spoke anonymously, stated that no amount of intimidation or threat can stop them from going to the floor of the senate on Tuesday to vote Yari.
He said: “They are doing everything possible to stop us. They have tried blackmail, intimidation and threats. They have also used the carrot approach to get us, the Yari supporters, but it has all failed. I know how many times they have invited me to the Villa, but I have refused to go.
“If they like, they can come and arrest, I will still not support their candidate. And there are over 65 senators who feel the same way like me, who are determined to go to the floor of the Senate and vote Sen. Yari as the next Senate President. To avoid embarrassment and disgrace on Tuesday, they should just allow senators to vote their conscience.”