‘He’s most suitable’ — north-west group backs Yari’s senate presidency bid

The North-west Progressives Forum (NPF) has declared support for the senate presidency bid of Abdulaziz Yari.

Speaking at a media conference on Saturday in Kaduna, Nasir Danbatta, convener of the group, said Yari is the most “suitable” among all the hopefuls vying to occupy the number three seat in the country.

Danbatta said the group “critically examined the credentials” of all the senators in the race before endorsing Yari.

“We feel obligated, after considering so many factors, to suggest that when eventually the slot is micro-zoned to the north-west, the person that is eminently competent for the job is former Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari”, Danbatta said.

“Yari is most suitable to be the next president of the Nigerian senate. At the risk of overstating the issue, we are convinced that among all the people rooting for the senate presidency from the north-west, only Yari possesses the proven integrity, honesty and experience necessary for such a position.

“We, therefore, join other groups in categorically endorsing Abdulaziz Yari as the most competent for the job and call on stakeholders in the entire zone to do the same.”

The group asked President-elect Bola Tinubu to “wade in and ensure the zoning of the senate presidency to the north-west in favour of Yari”.

“We are aware of the several moves and counter-manoeuvres by regionalist political actors seeking to place their respective zones at an advantage where it is not deserved,” the group said.

“The rule of fairness, justice and ordinary decency demands in this circumstance, that the north-west, and not any other zone, deserves to be rewarded for its commitment to the APC and the Asiwaju ideals which it amply proved at the polls.

“We, therefore, join the call for the APC and the president-elect to act justly and fairly by zoning the position of the senate president to the region that gave him more than 30 percent of his winning votes.”

Yari, who is a former governor of Zamfara, declared interest in running for the office of senate president in March.

The senator had said the north-west zone deserves the seat because the geopolitical zone produced the highest number of votes for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential election.