Senator Ali Ndume has described the victory of Godswill Akpabio as the Senate President of the 10th Assembly as a repetition of Ahmed Lawan's victory in the 9th Assembly due to the support of President Bola Tinubu.
Ndume, who insisted that 62 senators had assured them of voting for Akpabio, was shocked to get 63 votes.
Speaking on Channels Television, "Politics Today", he said, "What we did was not magic; it was more politics, but thank God, it turned out the way we wanted. I think it's good for our democracy, and for the country.
"This singular act of today (yesterday) will give Nigerians a sense of belonging. The way the politics played out shows that some of the politicians go out there to say does not really matter; for example, I am a Muslim, and I was the one that nominated and campaigned vigorously for the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio, and he was seconded by a Christian. On the other side, Senator Ishaku Cliff was the lead campaigner for Abduáziz Yari; he's a Christian from the north, Adamawa State, and was seconded by Jimo Ibrahim of Ondo State.
"So you can see that religion that some people hype on is not the real thing that we put into consideration but interest. Also interestingly, we have 54 members of the Christian faith out of the 109 senators, and we, the Muslims, are 55, and many people don't think about that, and the vote turned out to be 63 against 46, so you cannot place who voted who and how.
Asked how it happened, he said, "When we did a real analysis, the votes that we were sure of were 62, but we got 63. So many factors helped Akpabio's victory; when I contested the last time, the President endorsed Ahmed Lawan. So it's almost a repetition of the same thing. The party and the president had a preferred candidate, but we had foot soldiers to complement our efforts, and that's made a difference."
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