10th Assembly: Izunaso, Ned Nwoko Make Case for Igbo Senate Presidency

•Barau Jibrin pledges to accept APC zoning

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

An aspirant for the position of the Senate President in the forthcoming 10th National Assembly, Senator Osita Izunaso and a senator-elect, Ned Nwoko, have canvassed the emergence of a South-east Senator to lead the red chamber.

They spoke at a forum organised by the Parliamentary Advocacy Network (PAN), as contained in a statement by the group’s National Coordinator, Sunny Anderson Osiebe, made available to THISDAY in Abuja, yesterday.

Osiede, said his group met with some senators-elect and a member of the House of Representatives members-elect who are seeking to contest as Speaker in the 10th Assembly..

He said Izunaso, during the engagement with him,  stressed the need to give all parts of the country a sense of belonging.

The Senator said the diversity of the Nigerian nation was such that a lot of consideration ought to be given to various factors in the process of determining who gets what in the allocation of government offices.

He argued that experience, capacity, competence and other considerations such as ethnic and religious balancing must be factored into the leadership selection process at the next National Assembly.

He also said he was presenting himself to his colleagues at the Senate as a loyal party man, lawyer, erstwhile journalist and former member of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for support to become the next President of the 10th Senate.

Also speaking on his ambition on the occasion, Senator Barau Jibrin, maintained that the legislature remained a special institution.

He said experience, exposure, capacity and an ability to navigate through the different ideas, competences and characters of various individuals that constitute its membership, were important in trying to determine who leads such an institution.

He specifically pointed out that some of the rules of each legislative body confer on its senior or ranking members certain advantages that exclude new members.

The Kano Senator said he was in support of balancing of the leadership of various government offices along regional and religious lines, but stressed that a legislative house should be treated differently.

Jibrin said, “I will gladly accept the position of his party if at  end of the campaigns and efforts to win the Senate Presidency, it is zoned to another region.”

Nwoko, a senator-elect from Delta State, said it was important to state in no ambiguous terms where the position of President of the Senate ought to go in the 10th Senate.

He said the Igbo needed a sense of belonging in the Nigerian enterprise and that giving the south-east region the support to occupy the leadership of the Senate would be a succour to the zone that has continued to raise in the context of their perceived marginalisation in the current Nigeria political set-up.