The chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the six states that made up the north-central zone of the country have unanimously endorsed the candidacy of senator representing Kwara central senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Bukola Saraki, for the position of the senate presidency.

The states are, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Niger and Benue.

Just as this was happening in Ilorin, the support base of Senator Ahmed Lawan, another top contender, swelled in the North-east where he hails from. According to a statement issued at the end of their meeting in Ilorin yesterday, the APC states chairmen said Saraki was their preferred candidate for the office of the Senate president. The statement was signed by the Kwara State APC chairman who doubles as the forum's chairman, Hon. Ishola Balogun- Fulani, and his Kogi state's counterpart, Mr. Haddi Ameto, who is the secretary of the forum.

It reads: "We, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen from the North-central Geo- political Zone met at the weekend and unanimously endorsed Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki as our preferred candidate as the Senate President for the 8th National Assembly.

"Our decision to endorse Senator Saraki, representing Kwara Central Senatorial District at the upper chamber of the National Assembly was borne out of his unprecedented commitment to the growth and success of ? the party at all levels in the Zone and across the country.

"We, the party chairmen, who are the field officers can attest, without any contradiction that Saraki's unparalleled commitment to the party broke the hitherto political Jinx in the zone where the PDP was holding sway and delivered the zone to All Progressives Congress (APC) a feat that was unprecedented in the history of the zone and indeed Nigerian political history. "As the party leaders in our various states we hereby unequivocally say that our people unanimously give their support to Saraki Senate Presidency without iota of doubt in his ability to make the zone and Nigeria proud in no distance future and as well deliver as he had done in other endeavors he had involved in the past."

However, Lawan has continued to enjoy support from his colleagues in the North-east. A statement by Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim pledged the support of the Yobe State Caucus of the National Assembly to his aspiration. Also, Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, led the support of the government and people of the state for Lawan's quest for the Senate Presidency.

Gaidam, in a press statement by his Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information, Mallam Abdullahi Bego, said there was no truth in a report by a national daily that he was against the quest for the Senate Presidency of Ahmed Lawan.

He said in fact the government and people of Yobe state were totally and unreservedly supportive of Lawan's emergence as the Senate President of the eighth session of the upper legislative chamber.

According to the statement "Governor Gaidam believes strongly that at this pivotal moment in our nation's history when the entire country is mobilized for positive change, the Senate needs a leader who has the requisite experience, knowledge and network to organise and bring fellow senators around the issues that are uppermost in the minds of Nigerians – security, jobs, education, quality healthcare, electric power supply, etc.

"In short, we need a Senate President who will work with our new president to advance all the noble causes for which our Great Party, the APC stands."

Gaidam added that "Senator Ahmed Lawan has all the qualities which uniquely places him to lead the eighth session of the Senate."

The governor said he was pleased that "already, senators from the North-west part of the country have endorsed his candidature and are poised to support his emergence as President of the Senate," and also pleased that several senators from other geo-political zones of the country are gearing up to support Senator Lawan.

He asked that all senators-elect should consider Senator Lawan's experience, his goodwill, capacity and reach and support him to be the next president of the Senate.

He called on senators from the North-east Zone, where Ahmed hails from, to offer their support to him. He took strong exception to a report published in a national newspaper on Friday 8th May 2015 in which claims that he was supporting another candidate and that he was "against the aspiration of Lawan for the Senate Presidency."

He said this "report was totally false and unfounded," insisting that "even before I travelled to Saudi Arabia for the lesser pilgrimage, I have worked, made, and has continued to make extensive contacts in support of Senator Ahmed Lawan's quest for the Senate Presidency."

For Middle Belt Youth Assembly, the best thing that would happen to the eighth National Assembly will be to elect Senator George Akume, the current Senate Minority Leader, as the senate President of the Assembly. Addressing the press in Jos yesterday, Leader of the group, Yakubu said that Akume gave the opposition a voice in the seventh Assembly, adding that it was only natural that he emerged the Senate President this time.

e said: "Senator Akume was very effective as minority Leader in the Senate; the maturity with which he organised the opposition in the Senate was unequal. It is therefore only natural that the man who did well with little responsibility be given higher one."