Olaoluwakitan Babatunde
Osita Izunaso was at the centre of the politics that birthed the All Progressives Congress when the then opposition parties, All Nigeria Peoples Party, Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress of Progressive Change and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance led by Rochas Okorocha came together to form what is today the ruling party in Nigeria.
This Imo West Senator-elect has paid his dues in APC as a core party man. He was in the merger committee that midwived APC and became the founding National Organising Secretary, a position he held for about five years. As the Organising Secretary, he managed the 2014 National Convention of the party at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos where the current President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of APC. The 2014 APC Presidential Convention has been adjudged as the most transparent party primary ever conducted in the history of Nigeria and Izunaso always beat his chest for doing a great job as the Organising Secretary under whose purview the responsibility rests.
He was first elected into House of Representatives in 2003 and elected into the Senate in 2007. In the Red Chamber, he served as Chairman of Committees and member of others; ranging from Rules and Business, Local and Foreign Debts, Housing, Gas, Foreign Affairs and Sports Development. He also sponsored many bills and led debates during plenary sessions.
As things stand today, Izunaso who is returning to the Senate for the second time is the highest-ranking Senator from the South-east and South-south and considers himself the most prepared and most experienced and most qualified to be the next Senate President and lead the 10th National Assembly that will be inaugurated on June 13, 2023.
Izunaso said, “Among those vying for the Senate presidency especially from the South, I am the most qualified in terms of service to the party, loyalty and commitment to APC. I was there at the beginning of APC. I am one of the people that was there at the foundation of the party. I was in the merger committee put together by the opposition parties that formed APC. I have laboured hard for the party as the founding National Organising Secretary. In all party assignments, I have discharged them with commitment and unwavering loyalty.
“The other people contesting for this position came to our party as joiners after we have won the 2015 presidential election against all odds. They actually worked vigoriously for PDP, their party then to win the election. If we didn’t fight to win the election in 2015, will APC be the ruling party today? Will they be in our party today to seek to lead the National Assembly. If the office of the Senate President is about who has served and worked faithfully for the party, I am the most qualified.”
Various political and socio-cultural groups are currently appealing to the leadership of APC to Zone the Senate Presidency to the South East where Izunaso comes from. Apart from his qualification for the number three job, the former party top official disclosed his mission for the Senate and National Assembly.
Izunaso has promised to rebrand the red chamber and lead the National Assembly in fulfilling the yearnings of Nigerians for the renewed hope agenda for a better Nigeria being promoted by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
“I have the experience, education, character, and integrity to lead the Senate to fulfill the Renewed Hope mantra of the president-elect. That is why I have adopted the mantra ‘Hope Assured’. Nigerians need to start having trust in the National Assembly and I am that man who stands out with a proven record of integrity, patriotism, and loyalty,” he said.
No doubt, the position of Senate President should be zoned to the South-east. With Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, the two topmost political offices in Nigeria have been taken by the South-west and North-east. Political expediency, quest for national stability and cohesion dictate that the number three political position and the head of the legislative arm of government should go to the South East.
Historically, the Nigeria federation has always rested on the tripod of three dominant ethnic groups of Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. Under the current political dispensation, the Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani which now include Kanuri have produced the President and the Vice President. The imperative of political inclusiveness and arresting the agitation for Biafra in the South-east, especially among the young people who have been misled into the nefarious activities by IPOB/ESN, support the zoning of the Senate Presidency to the South-east.
The post-May 29, 2023 leadership of two out of the three arms of government presents a unique dilemma for the country. The President as the head of the Executive arm and government will be a Yoruba-Muslim and the Head of Judiciary will remain another Yoruba-Muslim. To dilute this equation needs a strong Igbo patriot who will also be a Christian. The South-South geopolitical Zone has served as Vice President and President for a combined period of 8 years since return of civil rule in Nigeria in 1999. The North-West has produced President twice with late President Umaru Yar’adua and outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari ditto for North-East that produced a Vice President in person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from 1999-2007. The North-East has again retained the Vice Presidency. The most disadvantaged geopolitical zone in Nigeria since 1960 remains the South-East.
In terms of political representation in APC, South-south has benefited more than the South-east since its formation. Chief John Oyegun and Comrade Adams Oshiomole have been National Chairman of APC while Senator John Akpan Udoedehe from Akwa-Ibom served as National Secretary of the APC. At the moment, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege from Delta State is the Deputy Senate President. It is politically wise to stop the Peter Obi and IPOB/ESN wave in the South East and the best way to achieve this is to have a man from the region in top three political positions and on order of protocols in Nigeria
Distinguished Senator Osita Izunaso OFR is a committed patriot and nationalist of the highest order. A core party man, urbane, cosmopolitan in outlook and worldview, competent party administrator, journalist of repute and a lawyer. Izunaso also served as Board Chairman, National Automative Design and Development Council. As philanthropist and Humanitarian, he founded Kpakpando Foundation for Persons living with disabilities since 2009.
Armed with quality education and a political experience that is unique to him, Senator Osita has declared his interest to be the President of the 10th Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly. Izunaso already met with President Muhammadu Buhari earlier on Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 where he presented his certificate of return as Senator-elect of his Imo West constituency and also informed him of his interest in seeking the top leadership position in the Senate.
Izunaso graduated from University of Jos in 1989 with a degree in English Language and bagged a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the University of Abuja in 1998. To further his postgraduate qualifications, he got a Masters in Business Administration from University of Calabar. His quest for knowledge and personal development led him to study Law at the Nile University, Abuja where graduated with a First Class Honours. He graduated from the Nigeria Law School Abuja Campus with a Second Class Upper. Senator Osita has also bagged a Masters Degree in Law.
Before his sojourn in politics, Izunaso was a journalist. The Senator has a unique credential that no federal legislator past and present in Nigeria can boast of. He is the only person in Nigeria’s history to ever worked as a staff of the two chambers of the National Assembly and later served in both chambers as elected representative of the people. In 1992, Senator Osita worked as the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of House of Representatives, Agunwa Anakwe. He also served as the Chief Press Secretary to Senate President, Chief Evans Nwerem with the return of civilian administration in 1999. He had earlier served as Chief Press Secretary to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Chief Jim Nwobodo from 1995-97 and retained same position with Minister of Labour and Productivity (1998-1999).
