Just In: Yari meets Buhari, says North deserves Senate Presidency

The Former Governor of Zamfara State and senator-elect, Abdul’Aziz Yari, on Sunday in Abuja, urged the All Progressives Congress to “reward performance” and not consider ethnicity or religion when zoning key offices in the 10th National Assembly.

“I’m advising the party that they should reward performance, not religion. Because religion is not in the constitution of Nigeria, and it is not in our manifesto and our constitution,” Yari said shortly after an audience with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at his official residence at the State House, Abuja.

Yari, who is one of the new senators-elect vying for the Senate Presidency, argued that the North being the highest contributor of votes to ensure APC victory in the February 25 presidential elections, should be offered the opportunity to produce the next senate helmsman.

“Everyone knows the role that we played, despite the fact that other people are thinking we have our own. But we voted on the party line which gave the APC leeway to grab the presidency again.

“So, therefore, we’re saying the party should do the right thing. And those that are going around saying ‘Muslim-Christian,’ should be very careful. Our education in politics is more than that now.

“They should not overheat the polity of the party with religion. If APC goes with religion, people in northern Nigeria that did the real voting, they’ll be annoyed and they will lose hope and confidence in the APC. And that’s the truth of the matter,” he said.

Yari added that the APC must exercise caution in its next course of action as the party no longer has the numbers it used to have in the past.

He said “The 10th assembly is a completely different assembly from the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth. Usually, any party that has a majority has the majority with two-thirds most of the time. But our own case is completely different.

“Why? Because in the House of Representatives, I told him (the President) that the minority are having the higher number there, they have 182. While our party has 178. In the Senate where we used to have like 65, 70, we now have 59 and the opposition has 50.

“In taking the decision of the party, they have to put these into consideration and look at how it’s going to be done. Because at the end of the whole exercise, whatever happens, we strongly believe that elections must hold in both chambers.”

The former Zamfara state governor who said he did not disclose his aspiration to Buhari said he was at the Villa to felicitate with the President for the successful conduct of the 2023 elections which saw his party retaining the top office.

“I came to wish him a good Eid-el-Fitr and also to pray to Almighty Allah to continue to guide him to accept our fasting and also to accept our Eid-El-Fitr and to congratulate him because, since the election, I have not be able to come because of one activity or the other.

“So I came to thank him for the fatherly guidance given to us to where we are. So that’s the main reason why I came here,” Yari said.