Ahead of the June 13th Inauguration of the 10th National Assembly indications emerged on Friday that the proposed zoning arrangements of the All Progressives Congress APC has collapsed.
The Vanguard had reported that President Bola Tinubu earlier withdrew his backing for the zoning formula released by the party following widespread protests from several quarters.
Efforts by the Akpabio/Barau Stability Group to revive the joint ticket have also met brick wall as meeting by the group at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday night was boycotted by most of the invited Senators-elect.
However a meeting same day by the opposing Senate Democratic Caucus, which parades senators Abdullaziz Yari, Orji Kalu, Osita Izunaso and others as members, at Destination Hotel in Wuse 2, Abuja, was fully attended.
According to the Vanguard, a source at the Akpabio/Barau’s Stability Group meeting explained that most of the senators-elect who were invited failed to turn up.
The source said, “Invitations were sent out to all senators-elect by the Stability Group for the meeting, which was called by a prominent senator from the South-West but many of those invited did not turn up.
“It got to a point that some elders of the party like Aremo Olusegun Osoba and Abu Ibrahim were invited to the closed-door meeting, which had about 21 senators-elect in attendance.
Meanwhile, the meeting called by the Democratic Caucus group at the Wuse Zone two was held simultaneously.
A senator-elect from the North-East, who confirmed the development to the Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, noted that the turnout of lawmakers-elect at the venue was highly impressive.
He said, “The meeting convened by the Senate Democratic Caucus had in attendance 57 senators-elect while about 16 others sent in their regrets.
“We are going to take the final decision on the matter on Tuesday (this week) and Nigerians will know that the zoning arrangement done by the APC had collapsed.”
IgbereTV also gathered that there were moves by the President and the leadership of the APC to tinker with the zoning arrangement as announced by the APC just as concerns were raised especially on the exclusion of the North-Central in the zoning made for both chambers of the National Assembly by the APC to ensure inclusivity, fairness and justice which may alter current permutations.
