Amidst the increasing tension in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) due to the scramble for the office of the president of the Senate in June, TIJANI ADEYEMI examines some of the issues that have stirred controversies and the pedigree of the contenders for the exalted position.
Traditionally, it is not every senator-elect that is qualified to occupy the leadership position, especially when it comes to the two presiding offices namely: the office of the President of the Senate and the office of the Deputy President of the Senate. As the inauguration of the 10th Senate draws near, no fewer than ten contenders have signified their intention either personally or through their supporters to vie for the offices of presiding officers in the red chamber.
The jostling for presiding officer of the Senate has become a ritual every four years , thanks to the sustainance of democracy since 1999. With the end of the 2023 general election, attention is now shifted to the legislative arm of government with observers expressing keen interest in which zone should get what in the next dispensation.
Senators on the forefront of the race are Senator Sani Musa from North Central of Niger State, Senator Barau Jubrin from North-West of Kano State, Abdulaziz Yari from North-West of Zamfara State; Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia State) and Osita Izunaso (Imo) both from South-East. Others are Godswill Akpabio from South-South from Akwa Ibom State; David Umahi from South-East of Ebonyi State , Ali Ndume from North East of Borno State , Adams Osiomhole from South South of Edo State and the incumbent president of theSenate, Ahmad Lawan from South East of Yobe State.
Despite the interest shown by the contestants, the APC national leadership is yet to come up with zoning arrangements that will determine which zone is to produce what. The national chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu dispelled a rumour that the party had zoned the post to a particular zone in the North.
Just like in every human organisation, where there are rules of engagements and rules of conduct, the Parliament has certain rules and standards, which are placed as conditions in the recruitment process of its leadership, and which aspiring members should meet as basic qualifications for such engagement.
In the Senate, according to Order 3, Rule 2 of the Senate Standing Orders 2022 as amended on the nomination of presiding officers and appointments of Principal Officers and other Officers of the Senate, it shall be in accordance with the ranking of Senators.
For clarity, ranking is determined by the following Order: (i) Senators returning based on number of times re-elected; (ii) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives, (iii) Senators elected as Senators for the first time.
Thus, senators-elect, who have served in the House of Representatives and now have been elected to the Red Chambers, and those who are re-elected to the Senate are all recognised as ranking members of the apex legislative Assembly, and are therefore, qualified to contest for the presiding officers positions.
Meanwhile, some major factors would definitely determine the consideration of who will emerge as the Senate President or the zone that may produce him. Apart from the issue of ranking, competency and fast knowledge of legislative processes will also play a part.
While the ranking Senators-elect are campaigning and canvassing for support from their colleagues and the leadership of the APC, two non-ranking Senators-elect, Umahi (APC, Ebonyi South), and a former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North), have also joined the race and have made passionate appeals to convince the Senate, to quickly amend its inhibiting ranking rule to accommodate them in the contest, arguing that they are most suitable for the job.
The issue of religion, as far as the 10th Senate is concerned, has become a factor since the party in it’s wisdom adopted Muslim- Muslim ticket for it’s president and vice president, it would be unfair to have the Senate President as Muslim . This is where the odd may favour Umahia who are Christians from South-East and South-South zones of the country.
Already , some of the contestants have started campaigning based on this with Uzor Kalu urging the party leadership to zone the Senate presidency to the South-East.
Another factor that may play up is of legislative experience and competence . This may favour contestants like Senator Sani Musa from Niger, Barau Jubrin from Kano, Ali Ndume from Borno, Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom and Yari from Zamfara.
Senator Barau while declaring interest for Senate presidency waved aside the issue of religion consideration and harped on competency, he said “The National Assembly has the latitude to regulate its own procedures as a distinct arm of government. That’s why we have our standing rules. It is clear in the Senate Standing Rule that aspiration or election for the Office of the Senate President shall be in accordance with ranking and most experienced.
“Among those who are seeking to occupy that office, I am the highest ranking and most experienced. The issue is that of competence. You need to be grounded in procedures of legislation and other activities of the parliament before becoming the Senate President.
“As we speak, I’m number one among those who are aspiring to become Senate President in terms of experience.
“Will you now relegate competence for other sentiments? There was a time we had a Christian Senate President, David Mark, and the deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, a Christian and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, a Christian. There were the most experienced and ranking at that time. Competence was not relegated for sentiment then.
Another contestant in Senator Sani Musa from Niger State while declaring for the number three position, said he would not hesitate to drop his ambition and settle for the Deputy Senate President in order to ensure religious balance in the polity and for the unity of the country.
According to him , “The Muslim – Muslim ticket used by the party to win the Presidential election , must be balanced at the configuration of leadership of the 10th National Assembly for unity of the country. I would not want to pre-empt the party, I will wait for the decision of the party. Whatever is the interest of the North Central as one of the geopolitical zones that gave the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the highest votes. If you look at the difference we gave to APC and the votes we gave to PDP, we have the largest. “I do know there will be nothing less than the Deputy Senate President because that is what will be fair to us”.
Sani Musa
Senator representing Niger-East, Sani Musa, is another contender. Although he has openly declared his intention number three position, he said he would go for the Deputy President of the Senate position on religious consideration. According to him, he is ready to withdraw from the race and go for the Deputy Senate Presidency, if the Party leadership wishes to address the agitations provoked by the Muslim-Muslim Presidential arrangement by the APC.
Jibrin Barau
Senator Jibrin Barau, is a cognate member of the National Assembly, having served in the House of Representatives and now serving in the Senate. Barau is a third-term Senator who has shown capacity by winning the Kano North Senatorial seat three consecutive times. He is the current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Therefore, by experience, he is well qualified to be President of the Senate but zoning may not favour him since the Party is already considering zooming the position to the South East for a balance of power.
Barau, in a Press briefing recently in Abuja, declared his intention to contest insisting to be the most qualified amongst other prospective contenders. He also stressed that ethno-religious sentiments should be jettisoned in choosing the person that would occupy the office.
He pointed out that in previous Assembly, David Mark was the president of the Senate while Ike Ekweremadu was deputy president, noting that nobody raised eye brows about two presiding officers of the same faith leading the apex Assembly.
Godswill Akpabio
Godswill Akpabio is a ranking member of the Senate and is also striving to occupy the Senate Presidency seat. After serving out his second term as governor of Akwa-Ibom State in 2015, he joined the Senate in the same year, under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
During that dispensation, the Senate, under Senator Bukola Saraki as the President of the Senate, relaxed its ranking principle. This made it possible for Akpabio to be nominated for the position of the Senate Minority Leader by the South-South Caucus of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which was ratified by the Caucus of the PDP in the Senate and he was announced by the president of the Senate as Minority Leader on 28 July 2015.
Orji Uzor Kalu
He is the current chief whip in the senate. The former two term governor of Abia is counting on the fact as a raking senator to push his bid. His prefereed choice during the contest for the presidential ticket of apc was the current president of the Senate, ahmad Lawan, who managed to wriggle his way back to the senatorial race after his unsuccessful bid. But Kalu lacks home support to shore up his current ambition as APC lost both the presidential and governorship elections in Abia State. But he has been involved in deft moves to rally support for his bid by reaching out to critical stakeholders in the ruling APC.
Abdulazeez Yari
He and Senator Kabiru, Marafa had cancelled themselves in the 2019 poll paving the way for APC to lose the state following a Supreme Court judgment which sacked all apc elected on its platform. Now both have emerged as senators representing zamfara state. . but the senate rules on the choice of presiding officers may work against him; it is major obstacle.
Umahi
Though he is not a ranking senator-elect, he is believed to be working seriously to put himself in good stead. He represents the backbone of APC in the South-East having led the party to victory in the governorship poll.
Godswill Akpabio
Akpabio quickly beat a retreat after making an unsuccessful bid for APC presidential ticket at the national convention. He had resigned as the Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta affair to vie for the presidential ticket of the party. He was once the Minority Leader in the Senate. A two term governor of Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio is banking on the senate rules to position himself in the ongoing contest and is believed to have sympathy of some top notch in the ruling party.
Lawan and Ndume
It’s true that the incumbent president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan and Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, are one of the few longest-serving members of the National Assembly, their aspirations to the highly contested office, may be hampered by the fact that they are both Muslims. Ndume is the Chairman, Senate Committee on the army. He lost his bid for the office of president of the Senate to Lawan in 2019.
Osita Izunaso
Another contender in the Senate Presidency race is the Senator-elect, Osita Izunaso, who was elected on February 25, to represent Imo West Senatorial District. He is a ranking member of the apex legislative Chamber, having served in the House of Representatives and the Senate earlier.
Therefore, by ranking, he is eminently qualified to lead the Senate. However, feelers has it that both the national leadership of the APC and most Senators-elect are not favourably disposed to letting him into the exalted office.
Meanwhile, Izunaso has gone to visit President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, where he called for the zoning of the Senate Presidency to the South-East, insisting that zoning the position to the eefion is only fair.
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