Ranking senators elected into the 10th National Assembly on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress have commenced deft moves to clinch the principal offices expected to be announced soon by the leadership of the party. Sunday Aborisade reports.
The successful inauguration of the 10th National Assembly and the emergence of presiding officers have paved the way for the appointment of principal officers to pilot the affairs of the red chamber for the next four years.
The leadership of the Senate, known as body of principal officers, is made up of 10 elected senators from the majority and minority parties.
By National Assembly’s convention, the APC senators, who are members of the majority party in the Senate, are expected to produce the two presiding officers and four principal officers including the Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, the Chief Whip and the Deputy Whip.
The minority parties, on the other hand, which included the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party, Social Democratic Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance and the Young People’s Party, are also expected to produce the Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, the Minority Whip and the Deputy Minority Whip.
Senators GodswillAkpabio and BarauJibrin, who are members of the APC, had emerged as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively.
The leadership of the party is now expected to send the list of the remaining four principal officers positions to the red chamber before its resumption from the post inauguration/Sallah break on July 4.
The party would appoint the Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip from each of the geopolitical zones.
The positions would therefore be shared among the North Central, North West, South East and the North East geopolitical zones.
Prior to the party’s decision, the caucuses of the party in the Senate would meet to elect one of them whose name would be forwarded to the party for approval, and subsequent transmission to the presiding officers of the chamber for announcement.
At the moment, only the North Central geopolitical zone has not been adequately represented in the top positions so far decided at the 10th National Assembly following the successful conclusion of the 2023 general polls.
The distribution of the presiding officers positions in the National Assembly was supposed to take care of the other zones apart from the South West and North East which had produced both the president and vice president.
The North Central was short changed in the just concluded presiding officers elections because two offices – Deputy Senate President and House Speaker – went to the North West.
Some senators had posited that a ranking senator from the North Central geopolitical zone should automatically be appointed as the Senate Leader in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice.
Others however insisted that the rule of ranking must be strictly adhered to in the appointment of principal officers.
Other schools of thought who spoke on the development maintained that a ranking senator from the South West geopolitical zone should be appointed as the Senate Leader because President Tinubu is from the zone.
They had claimed that the last two Senate Leaders in the second term of former President MuhammaduBuhari, Senators YahayaAbdullahi and Ibrahim Gobir were both from the North West geopolitical zone with Buhari.
Advocates of the Senate Leader coming from the same geopolitical zone with the President insisted that it would enhance smooth working relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government since he would be the engine room of the red chamber.
In the South West, going by the ranking rule, Senator AbdulfataiBuhari is the most ranking senator from the zone followed by Senators Solomon Adeola and OpeyemiBamidele.
Buhari was in the House of Representatives in 2003 before he got elected as senator in 2015, 2019 and 2023.
Adeola on the other hand, was in the House of Representatives in 2011 and moved over to the Senate in 2019 and re-elected in 2023.
Bamidele, popularly known as MOB, is a lawyer, and human right activist, is the third in ranking. He was first elected into the House of Representatives in the 7th National Assembly.
He was elected into the 9th, and 10th Senate, representing the Ekiti Central Senatorial District.
Adeola and Opeyemi are considered as the closest South West senators to President Bola Tinubu. Finding has, however, revealed that Bamidele could be favoured for the top job since Adeola is said to be eyeing the Chairmanship of the Appropriation Committee.
Bamidele would have to contest the position with Buhari who is representing Oyo North Senatorial District in the Upper Chamber.
Many have, nevertheless argued against the claims that a ranking senator from the President’s geopolitical zone should be appointed as Senate Leader. They insisted that there was no historical antecedents to back up such claims.
A senator who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said, “The first Senate Leader during the period of President OlusegunObasanjo was a senator from Katsina State and another Katsina senator took over from him.”
During the era of late President UmaruYar’adua, he said Senator TeslimFolarin from South West was Senate Leader and he was there until former President Goodluck Jonathan completed the tenure of Yar’adua.
The Senator said, “Senator Victor NdomaEgba from the South South took over as Senate Leader when Jonathan was elected president.
“When President MuhammaduBuhari (North West) took over, Senator Ali Ndume from the North East was Senate Leader before he was removed and replaced with Senator Ahmad Lawan, from the same zone
“In 2019, Senator YahayaAbdullahi from Kebbi North was the Senate Leader before he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party and Senator Ibrahim Gobir took over.
“There was no history that backed up the claims that the Senate Leader must come from the geopolitical zone of the President.
“It happened by circumstances when Jonathan won his first presidential election in 2011 and when Buhari won his second term in office in 2019.”
Meanwhile, In the South East geopolitical zone, Senators Orji UzorKalu and OsitaIzunaso, happened to be the two most ranking senators.
Both of them had been members of the House of Representatives and the Senate twice.
However, Kalu was in the House of Representatives in 1993 while Izunaso was in the green chamber in 2007.
Kalu’s period in the Lower Chamber however lasted three months before it was truncated by the military junta of General SaniAbacha.
In the North Central, SenatorsSani Musa (Niger East) and Saheed Umar (Kwara North) are the two most ranking senators. Both of them had been to the Senate twice, 2019 and 2023.
The most ranking senator from the North East geopolitical zone is Ahmad Lawan, who just concluded his tenure as the Senate President, followed by Ali Ndume.
However, Lawan may not accept to be the Senate Leader. It will now be left with Ndume, who had played similar role during the era of BukolaSaraki’s Senate presidency.
Ndume however had to contend with Senator DanjumaGoje for the exalted position.
Other senators who spoke with our Correspondent on the latest development in the red chamber were of the view that if the leadership of the APC would follow the ranking system one of the above listed ranking senators should emerge as Senate Leader.
They noted that the others would be appointed as deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and the Deputy Whip respectively.
In the meantime, intensive lobbying has started for the position both within and outside the red chamber.
Various social, political and ethnic groups had started campaigning for their choice candidates for the position.
For instance, the Yoruba Council of Leaders (YCL) has appealed to the national leadership of the APC to consider Bamidele as the Senate Majority Leader in the 10th Senate.
The Leaders of Thought in the South West made the appeal in a Communique they released after their meeting on Friday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
In the Communique, which was signed by the President of the body, Dr. OlusolaOmokehinde, the elders commended President Tinubu, for recognising the importance of equitable power distribution across the country’s geopolitical zones. They said it was a means to promote inclusive governance and democratic integration in Nigeria.
The Communique emphasized the need for the zoning of the Senate Majority Leader to the South-West region, and specifically highlighted the candidacy of Senator Bamidele from Ekiti State.
Part of the Communique read, “The Yoruba Council of Leaders believes that this position is well-deserved for the South-West, considering that Ekiti State was the first to secure victory for the APC during the Presidential election.
“The APC garnered over 70 per cent of the total votes cast in the State. Agreed the South-West region had produced the nation’s President, it should not be deprived of other important positions.
“Senator Bamidele is by character and experience, fit for the role of Senate Leader.
“No doubt, Bamidele is imbued with vast political experience as a former member of the House of Representatives in the 8th Assembly and a current member of the Senate in the 9th Assembly, where he chairs the Judiciary Committee with an impeccable record and strong commitment to the party’s principles and ideology. Hence, he is unhesitatingly fit for the job”.
