Senators of the South-East geo-political zone on Monday endorsed Sen. Godswill Akpabio (APC-Akwa-Ibom) and Sen. Barau Jibrin (APC-Kano) as their choice candidates for Senate President and Deputy Senate President of the 10th Assembly, respectively.

The 10th Assembly is due for inauguration on Tuesday.

Imo’s Gov. Hope Uzodinma made this known in Abuja after a meeting he held with the 15 senators-elect of the South-East geo-political zone.

“It was a meeting of the South-Est caucus of the Senate. All 15 of them attended the meeting.

“We resolved to toe the line of the preferred candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Senate to support Akpabio and Barau.

“As it has to do with the Senate president and the Deputy Senate president, the APC, with most senators-elect, has preferred and recommended Sen. Akpabio and Sen. Jibrin.

“We have already agreed that we will vote according to the recommendation of our great party.

“We don’t want to go into any controversy of going into unnecessary blind opposition.

“We want to work under a constructive partnership across party lines in the Southeast region and that is actually my position.

“It is a good development for the region and for the unity of the nation,’’ Mr Uzodinma told newsmen.

The Imo governor is also the chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum (governors of APC-controlled states).

He noted that democracy is about engagements, discussions and dialogues.

“People are entitled to have aspirations. Because we are practicing partisan democracy, it is always assumed that loyalty to the party will always prevail.

“Whether you are Labour Party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or APC, Southeast is southeast and leadership is leadership.

“We think we will be more organised in the interest and unity of the country to work with the ruling party so our people will also have the opportunity to get dividends of democracy,’’ Uzodinma stressed.

“Engagement is continuing. I am leaving now for an important meeting to engage some senators-elect with opposing views to the choices already made.

“The rule of the business is; you will disagree first before you will agree. So having disagreed all these while, between now and Tuesday morning, we will all agree,’’ the governor added. 

(NAN)