Ahead of the inauguration of the next assembly, the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Barau Jibrin joint ticket has secured 61 signatures.

This is just as a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, who is also a contender, is said to have insisted on contesting the Senate presidency of the 10th assembly, which is expected to be inaugurated on June 13.

A ranking senator, who is one of those leading the Akpabio/Barau camp, told this paper that the 61 senators-elect cuts across party lines.

CEOAFRICA source on Saturday reports that Akpabio and Barau are among the nine contenders for the Senate presidency of the 10th assembly, expected to be inaugurated on June 13.

The sources also revealed that one of the front runners, Senator Ali Ndume, was asked by the president-elect to drop his ambition and support the Akpabio/Barau ticket, which he reportedly obliged.

“The President-elect summoned Ndume and asked him to step down for Akpabio in the interest of national cohesion, fairness and religious balancing which he obliged.

“He also insisted that Ndume should be in the frontline to deliver Akpabio as the next Senate president. That’s how we started collecting signatures.

“We are still making consultations, negotiations and collecting signatures. So far, we have collected 61 signatures that cut across party divides,” he said.

The lawmaker said efforts to get the former governor of Zamfara State to step down yielded no results.

Efforts to speak to Senator Ali Ndume proved abortive as he did not pick up several calls or replied to the text messages sent to him by the reporter.

However, another source said they are targeting 70 signatures before the inauguration.

He said to convince the senators to come on board, the president-elect said the Akpabio/Barau ticket should be by consensus.