Senator Abdulaziz Yari, the former governor of Zamfara state and aspirant for the senate presidency, has said he is qualified for the exalted position as a ranking member of the National Assembly.

Speaking on Arise TV which was monitored by www.worldviewafrica.com, Yari who first became a member of the National Assembly in 2011 when he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives said his decision to contest is in conformity with the rules of the National Assembly in election of presiding officers.

He said “I am not going to the National Assembly for the first time. I have been in the National Assembly, that cannot be denied. So, I have been in the House of Representatives in the 6th Assembly. From there, I moved to the executive part of the government, that is, I became governor in 2011 and 2015. In 2019, elected senator”.

Yari also rejected the decision of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), in zoning of the senate presidency position to the South-South, saying the North is underrepresented in this government.

He further lamented the fact that the North was not given any opportunities in governance in the incoming administration, simply because the President-Elect and Vice-President Elect ran with a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

In response to the zoning, Yari said, “I haven’t seen wherever in the constitution where it says Christian must be president, Muslim must be president or vice president”.

He went on to say that the constitution did not recognize Islam or Christianity, that all the constitution recognized was the right to religion.

“If president elect decides to do a Muslim-Muslim ticket, that is the business of the president and the executives. And if the parliamentary decides to do a Muslim-Muslim, it is the business of the parliament”.