The 10th Senate may soon be plunged into crisis as aggrieved senators loyal to the former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, have vowed to challenge the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the Senate President in court this week.
The aggrieved Senators insisted the result of the election was manipulated, hence, their decision to the National Assembly Management to court this week for allegedly announcing a wrong result.
The pro-Yari senators maintained that the ballot papers used in the election were serially barcoded.
TheHintsNews reports that Akpabio, who has the backing of the party and the presidency scored 63 votes to defeat Yari who polled 46 votes to emerge as the President of the Senate on June 13.
Two senators from the North-east, who spoke on the issue, on the condition of anonymity alleged that the election was manipulated against Senator Yari.
One of the Senators opined that the election was supposed to be secret balloting , but was manipulated and compromised.
The lawmaker maintained that they believed the right thing must be done to avoid international embarrassment.
He said: “What happened on June 13 was against the Senate rule. You can’t have a Senate president that came on board illegally.
“We will challenge the process and make sure that the electoral processes are not tampered with in the future.”
Another Senator noted that though the election had been held and Akpabio emerged, but insisted there are still questions surrounding his victory.
He alleged that the ballot papers were tampered with and compromised.
His words: “The ballot papers were serially barcoded such that the idea of secret balloting never existed.
“Some senators were forced to vote against their will. These actions were not only undemocratic, but unconstitutional and embarrassing.
“A lot of senators who voted for Akpabio did so under compulsion and threat. They never wanted him to be President.”
The Senator pointed out that they were interested in telling the world how barcodes were used to rig the election.
He added: “Why should an electoral process be tampered with? Until it is determined there would be too many other questions to answer in the 10th Senate.
“This is the first-time ballot papers will have a barcode. Akpabio won’t last as Senate President.”