Senator-elect for Kano South on the platform of the All Nigerian People’s Party, (NNPP) Suleiman Kawu Sumaila has said opposition lawmakers were determined to frustrate the All Progressives Congress zoning arrangement and the favoured candidates of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for leadership of the National Assembly.
Senator Kumalia made the vow on Monday while speaking with journalists at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
The election of the new presiding officers is expected to hold next week. The favoured choices of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress National Working Committee for the Red Chamber are Senators Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin for Senate President and Deputy Senate President.
For the House of Representatives, are Honourable Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu for Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
A meeting fixed with opposition lawmakers by President Bola Tinubu for Monday has since been rescheduled.
Senator Kumalia declared that the ruling APC has no comfortable majority to guarantee its victory for leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly.
He said: “This 10th National Assembly is entirely different from the previous Assembly. The margin between the ruling Party and the minority parties in the Senate is 52% to 48% of the minorities. The Minority is 50 while the ruling party has 59. When you go to the House the minority parties are 183 and the majority 177.
“What I am saying is that if you have a clear majority you can do zoning, select your candidates without consultation but in a situation like this where you don’t have the majority and there are so many interests in Nigeria now. Some are there to ask for fiscal federalism, some are there to promote true federalism, some are there to ask for State police and so many other agitations. The best way is to allow the members of the National Assembly to decide who will be their Speaker or the President of the Senate then at the end the President as a politician will invite the leadership and work with them.
“Let him learn from President Yar” Adua, this is what President Yar’ Adua did and he succeeded. We stayed with Yar’ Adua for three years, I was in the leadership of the House of Representatives. We constantly met with him on some issues but there was no time he interfered. There was the issue of Patricia Etteh in the House, it was one of the serious issues but Yar’ Adua said, no let the House of Representatives do it.
“Don’t forget in the Senate they are people who are former governors, who are the colleagues of the President. We have over 20 years of experience in this business. Do you think you will dictate to us what to do? I have the specific agenda of Kano South people vis a vis Kano State. Do you want me to just discard the interest of my people and follow somebody in Abuja?
“Let us meet on the 13th of June 2023 in the chamber, we will tell Nigerians who we are. By God’s grace on 13th June, the new Senate President of the 10th Senate is Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari from Zamfara State.”
