Ahead of the election of a new Senate President on Tuesday, a group has berated those suggesting that two top candidates in the race have stepped down.
The rumour that Orji Uzo Kalu and Osita Izunaso have stepped down from the race to become the President of the Senate in the 10th National Assembly, NASS, should be disregarded, according to One Nigeria, a group that said it represents the interest of the two senators.
The group spoke on the crest of suggestion that both Kalu and Izunaso have stepped down for Senator Godswill Akpabio, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC candidate for the top position.
One Nigeria, in a statement by Joseph Ironsi, its Publicity Secretary on Monday night stated that those peddling the rumour are part of anti-democratic forces bent on foisting unpopular candidate on NASS.
The statement reads, “ We are miffed by what is playing out in the bid to force someone who is not popular as the leaders of the senate. From the beginning, we have told the whole world that we have no interest in whoever becomes the senate president of the 10th assembly.
“What we are particular about is that the senators should be allowed to choose whoever pleases them to lead them. That is how to grow democracy and not the other way out.
“What disturbed us most is the publication by the respected The Cable. Maybe because of the respect we have for the publisher, Mr. Simon Kolawole, we would have left it without a reaction. We wonder how a newspaper of The Cable standard would publish a story of such magnitude without contacting the parties concerned.
“Why we know the role the media play in deepening democracy, we want them to watch and report things as they occur without adding or subtracting anything.
”We may not know whether anybody met or not but we know is that Senators Kalu and Izunaso are still in the race, just like Senator Yari. Anybody saying otherwise is fooling himself.”
Meanwhile, those watching what is happening in NASS insist that the Senate President race is a straight contest between Senators Abdullaziz Yari, a former governor of Zamfar state, and Akpabio.
