The National Assembly election to produce the next Senate President of the 10th Assembly was held on Tuesday, 13th, 2023 with Senator Godswill Akpabio becoming the winner, defeating his closest rival, Senator Abdulazeez Yari.
Months before the election, Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, who is known for his prophecies on everything regarding governance, revealed that the next senate president of Nigeria should be someone from the southeast zone. He then mentioned that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is the most qualified among the Igbos to become the next senate president.
His reason was due to the marginalization of the Igbos for several years in the country. In his message, Primate Ayodele advised Igbo lawmakers to rally around Kalu and seek support for him so he can emerge as the next senate president. The man of God explained that Kalu’s emergence as senate president will help the country’s democracy to thrive and will relax the agitations for inclusiveness in government by the Igbos.
Primate Ayodele went on to say that if Kalu doesn’t emerge, Igbos will be in trouble because they will be almost irrelevant in the new administration.
“I still maintain that the best candidate for senate president is Orji Uzor Kalu. If he loses it Igbo will be in trouble.”
“The Igbos in the house will make it difficult for him but to balance the situation, an Igbo person and a Christian is better’’.
Again, Primate Ayodele in two different statements yesterday before the election held made it known that if Senator Godswill Akpabio emerges as the senate president, democracy will not be at play in the house and it will be a huge slap on the Igbos.
He mentioned that an Igbo person and a Christian should be the next senate president. He also noted that Akpabio is ready for the position of the next senate president but if he emerges, it will be another rubberstamp senate.
“If Akpabio emerges as the senate president, it will not make any difference in the house. The house will not be democratic as expected. Bringing in a Christian senate should be Igbo’s turn, not a south-south person. A south-south emerging is a slap to the Igbos.’’
“Sincerely, Igbos should be the next senate president but I believe they have been cursed. If they don’t get it, Akpabio will get it and Igbos will never be president again in Nigeria. Igbos have been put behind and I am not seeing them to be politically relevant.’’
The above statements go beyond the National Assembly elections, especially for Godswill Akpabio. It’s not necessarily about the winner or the losers, it’s about what will become of the national assembly in this administration.
The 9th assembly which expired on Tuesday didn’t act like a democratic body in the last administration and it got to a point where appointments were made without the national assembly screening candidates yet no action was taken.
Some of the president’s appointees were invited to the house and didn’t honour the invitation yet no action was taken against them. This is to show how bad and irrelevant the 9th assembly was in the last administration.
Before the election of Senator Ahmed Lawan as the senate president, Primate Ayodele warned and said the National Assembly will become a rubber stamp for the former president, Muhammadu Buhari but he was dismissed. At the end of the day, even Lawan confirmed they were a rubber stamp National Assembly some days back.
Yet again, Godswill Akpabio has been elected against the warnings of the man of God, won’t the National Assembly be another rubber stamp for President Tinubu? Well, we shall know in a few years’ time.
For the Igbos, it was indeed an opportunity to occupy the number 3 position in the country if they supported one of their own but as Primate Ayodele said, they have been successfully put behind in the nation’s politics due to their inability to support their own.
WATCH PRIMATE AYODELE’S VIDEO BELOW: