Nine months after the inauguration of the 10th Senate, 51 Senators from the 17 Southern States met on Wednesday to revive their forum by announcing a new leadership with Adetokunbo Abiru, Senator representing Lagos East as Chairman.
Their decision to meet and name new leaders came shortly after the controversies that had hit the Senate in recent time, notably the Budget padding allegations and the drama that followed, including allegations by Bamidele Opeyemi, the Senate Leader, that some aggrieved Northern Senators were plotting to unseat Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
It was gathered that the forum had been in existence since the 9th Senate, but had not been active, especially since the inauguration of the 10th Senate.
The Senators met at the Conference Room of the Senate Leader, who served as Chairman of the Forum during the 9th Senate. He said his current position as Leader of the 10th Senate, affected him from providing the required leadership.
As unanimously agreed by Southern Senators, Victor Umeh ( Labour Party, Anambra Central) was named Vice Chairman; Mpigi Barinada (PDP Rivers South East) is Secretary; Asuquo Ekpenyong ( APC Cross River North ) is Publicity Secretary; Kenneth Eze ( APC Ebonyi Central) is Treasurer.
Abiru, in his remarks, noted that the Forum had been running in the 10th Senate as if it didn’t exist as he declared that the Forum would be vibrant henceforth.
“Now that the last leadership has transferred power to us, the Forum would be made vibrant”, he said, adding that the Forum would serve as a veritable platform for discussing, analysing and dissecting national issues by Southern Senators for the sole purpose of moving Nigeria forward.
He added that they will partner with the Northern Senators forum to move the country forward.
“This Forum is to champion the course of Nigeria and Nigerians. We have our Northern brothers with the Northern Senators Forum. We will work together with the Northern Senators Forum to move the country forward.
“We will swing into action and roll out our plans for the betterment of the region and Nigeria. We will mapped out our plans and work on them for the betterment of Nigeria and Nigerians generally”, he said.
