On Wednesday night, President Bola Tinubu urged senators-elect to back the selection of the ruling All Progressives Congress for the 10th National Assembly.

At a meeting with parliamentarians on Wednesday night that ended approximately 11 p.m., Tinubu made the pitch and added that the Renewed Hope Elephant is big enough for everyone to partake.

He said, “the elephant is big enough for all members, and indeed Nigerians, to have a share of the renewed hope in due course”.

Ripples Nigeria reports that the APC had zoned the president of the Senate to the South–South, with Senator Godswill Akpabio as the preferred candidate, and Senator Jubrin Barau from North-West for deputy Senate President.

This, however, did not go down well with some aspirants for the Senate presidency, who have vowed not to step down for Akpabio.

According to President Tinubu, accepting the party’s decision was the right thing to do to support the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of his administration.

“At this point in our history and the challenges facing us as a new administration, all hands must be on deck to salvage the unpalatable situation facing the nation. We must see the situation as a pan-Nigerian project for the executive and the legislature to work out solutions to the challenges of the nation,” Tinubu told the senators-elect.

The President further noted that the task ahead of finding solutions to the myriads of national problems cannot come from the executive arm of government alone but from the joint working together of the executive and the legislature.

He also asked the senators-elect present at the meeting to reach out and pass the appeal to other APC senators-elect, who were unavoidably absent from the meeting, to toe the party line and put a leash on all personal ambition in favour of the party’s programme and national interest.

“Talk to your colleagues that are not here to tow the party line and give the Renewed Hope agenda a chance to succeed. The elephant is big enough for all members, and indeed Nigerians, to have a share of the renewed hope in due course”, the President added.