A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje yesterday said Kwara State deserves the Senate presidency slot in the interest of "justice and equity".

He said Benue State which is in the North-central zone like Kwara has enjoyed the seat for some years and that his state should be allowed to vie for the position.

Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, Baraje, a former acting National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) noted that Kwara has the highest number of ranking APC senators.

He made case for former governor of the state and senator representing Kwara-Central, Bukola Saraki.

He said: "We have a man like Bukola Saraki, who has not only been a governor for eight years, but has been a very vocal senator. He was the first senator to present a bill about the kind of injustice, theft, impunity going on in the out-going administration. All he said and presented about oil theft and subsidy for example are coming to pass now and I am sure Nigerians and APC itself are interested in people who would work hard to satisfy the masses and the electorate and I believe that he is one of them.

"You all agree with me that we have the right like other parts of the country to look for it (Senate presidency) if it comes back to this part of the country particularly North-Central. So if I am in position to advise our senators, I'll ask them to go for it because I am sure that the three of them that are going are able. They are known; they have been tested and trusted. When you talk of Kogi, we don't have a ranking senator from APC returning. When you look at Nassarawa, no ranking senator coming out from that state. So we have the highest number of ranking senators," he said.

Speaking further, he said the APC government under Mohammadu Buhari would hit the ground running conscious of the high expectations of Nigerians.