The Senators from the Southern part of Nigeria revived the Forum nine months after the inauguration of the 10th Assembly.
Amid the turmoil within the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), which saw Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) serving as Chairman until his suspension from the Senate over allegations of 2024 budget padding, the Southern Senators have revived their forum.
The Senators from the Southern part of Nigeria revived the Forum nine months after the inauguration of the 10th Assembly as the 51 Senators from the 17 Southern States met on Wednesday and elected six executives under the Chairmanship of Senator Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East).
The Senators met at the Conference room of the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), who said the forum, like the Northern Senators’s forum, had been in existence since the 9th Senate and was not a newly formed forum.
Addressing the forum, Senator Bamidele who served as Chairman of the forum during the 9th Senate said his current position as Leader of the 10th Senate prevented him from providing the required leadership necessitating a change of leadership which took place at the meeting.
“What is happening here today is not new as both the Southern and Northern Senators’ fora existed even before this 10th Senate. At this meeting of the Southern Senators, new executive members will be announced to steer the affairs of the forum.
“The new Chairman as unanimously agreed by Southern Senators is Senator Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East); Vice Chairman, Senator Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central); Secretary, Senator Mpigi Barinada (PDP, Rivers South East); Publicity Secretary, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (APC, Cross River North); and, Treasurer, Senator Kenneth Eze (APC, Ebonyi Central).
Accepting his appointment as the new leader of the forum, Senator Abiru in his remarks said 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 adding that they will partner with the Northern Senators forum to move the country forward.
“This forum, the Southern Senators 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 map out our plans and work on them for the betterment of Nigeria and Nigerians generally. Before today, we have been running the forum in this 10th Senate as if we don’t exist but now that the last leadership has transferred power to us, the forum would be made vibrant,” he said.
