Senate Presidency: Opposition Parties Not Planning to Frustrate APC Leadership on Zoning, Lawmaker Declares

•Vows to support best aspirant from the ruling party 

•Group canvasses support for Barau Jubrin

Segun James and Dike Onwuamaeze in Lagos

A ranking Senator representing Osun East Senatorial District in the Senate, Senator Francis Fadaunsi has debunked reports of opposition parties planning to gang up against the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) to produce the next Senate President.

Fadaunsi, an opposition member of the parliament, in a chat with journalists, said rather than scheme for power, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members were united in their resolve to contribute their quota to good governance in the next administration.

“The meeting of the minority caucus has started but it is not to frustrate the APC leadership move on zoning. We are prepared to support the best aspirant from the geo-political zone where the presiding officers’ positions would be zoned to,” he declared.

Speaking in the same vein, a North Central Senator-elect who pleaded anonymity, said the minority caucus would not rock the boat as far as constitution of the presiding officers of the Senate was concerned.

According to him, “What we are after is the best candidate of the lot. And as far as some of us are concerned, the ruling party should know how to give us the best hand for the job. We are not unaware of legislative conventions around the world. Can we be different? No!”

Meanwhile, another ranking Senator from the North East has raised the alarm over what he called desperate attempts by few Senators in opposition trying to coerce the ruling party to zone the Senate Presidency to either the south-east or the south-south.

The Senator who preferred not to be quoted said the few Senators have been deploying all sorts of tactics including guile against unsuspecting senators-elect into the zoning issue apparently to weaken the base of the APC in the north especially the north-west.

In his words, “The president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu has to be extra-careful of these tactics aimed at whipping up religious sentiments into issues as serious as the leadership of the Senate. The antics are aimed at ensuring that the APC in the north loses out of a strong political position so the opposition can have a field day planning and mopping up for 2027. They must not be allowed to succeed.”

In a related development, a chieftain of the APC in Kano State, Malam Muazu Dansarauniya, has advised the leadership of the party to zone the Senate presidency to the north-west region.

Dansarauniya told newsmen in Kano at the weekend that the performance of the party in the zone during the presidential election makes it to stand in pole position for the top parliamentarian seat.

He said it was only fair, just and democratic for the party’s leadership to ensure that the seat for the Senate presidency goes to the north-west and to Kano specifically, the political heartbeat of the north.

He explained that the APC, despite the votes it contributed to the election of the president-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu, has only one senator, Sen. Barau Jibril, in Kano state and any mistake of not making him the Senate president may affect the strength and control of the region by the party.

“The president-elect and leadership of the party is to look at the votes recorded in the north-west during the presidential election as a yard stick in zoning the Senate presidency to the region.

“We have done very well in this presidential election. We have contributed the most votes.

“So you see, even in terms of reward and recognition, we have the right to say we need to have the Senate presidency.

“The Presidency has gone to our partners in the Southwest, the Vice Presidency has gone to our partners in the Northeast, and the largest voting block and the largest political block deserves the presidency of the Senate,” he said.

Dansarauniya described the call by the NNPP as deliberately geared towards seizing control of the region by disallowing the APC to have a strong political leadership like the Senate president from the region.

He said calls by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Reps-elect, Abdulmumin Kofa, who condemned allotting the Senate presidency to the north as a disservice to the nation.

“I believe that is unfair for a minority party to basically come in and dictate to the APC what to do.

“But very importantly, we need to look at the motive behind this statement.

“We know that Jibrin is from NNPP and the NNPP leader is from Kano and Kano is the heartbeat of north-western politics as well as northern Nigeria.

“So what they are trying to do is to strategically convince APC not to put a political leader on that space so that they can monopolise the politics of the region. We can see their plans,” said the APC chieftain.

“Therefore, if NNPP people are saying that you don’t love Nigeria if you say you are giving us the Senate presidency, it is just a strategy to mobilise and have the entire Northwest to themselves, which is a very important block.

“Now we have seen how close this election has been, Northwest votes alone could have physically doubled what the rest of Nigerian votes could have given if we galvanise and institutionalise support in the region.

“So I’m calling on our leaders, the National Chairman of our party, the president-elect, to look at what the president has outlined as a government of national competence, and when we look at competence, we will not go beyond our senatorial presentation in Kano in the person of Sen. Barau Jibril.

“Some people talk about fairness and equity in terms of politics. I want to highlight this, democracy has a principal rule, this rule is about participation,” Dansarauniya explained.

“You cannot not participate and then ask for a reward. The people that are asking for a reward, we are asking them to galvanise themselves, organise themselves in the next election and contribute to the success of the party.

“So you cannot basically deny the party votes and when the party is basically and equitably and fairly sharing its positions you now say because of national unity you want to take the critical position.

“All I’m saying to our brothers in other regions is 2027 is not far away, go back, work hard, join us to make success of the next election and you will get your fair share of reward and recognition,” he said.

 Meanwhile, The Rescue North West APC, (Rescue Group) has asked that the presidency of the Senate should be zoned to the geo-politcal area, saying in view of their contribution to the eventual success of the party in the general election, it deserved to be compensated with the position.

The group in a statement signed by the Coordinator, Rescue Group, Muktar Dahiru-Gore stated: “The North West contributed the most votes to help our ever resilient and politically savy, President- elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to win the 2023 presidential election.”

The group insisted that the North West zone contributed about 30 per cent of the votes that made both the president-elect and the APC to win the election.

“That people partake in politics worldwide to take over the reins of government to use and make the available resources for the greatest good of the greatest number of people and not to meet and satisfy sectarian indulgences such as religion and ethnic considerations.

“That while the aim of religious faith is to guarantee a life after life, politics serves a diametrically opposed aim of making life more abundant while we live,” he added.

He said that the Rescue Group is made up of broad based-political interest groups within, “our great party from the North West geo-political zone and it is a coalition put together to canvass the interest of the zone within the Nigeria political space.”

“We have met across the states making up the zone in Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, and Sokoto States, and we have resolved to put the following forward.

“We have watched with keen interest the attention which the office of the 10th Senate President has attracted and the jostling for the office among eminent distinguished Senators, as regards which zone should get the nod to produce the number three job.

“Several reasons have been canvassed from the mundane to the sublime, which are not uncommon when people seek to grab at all costs plum positions and jobs. Everyone will justify why it should be theirs.

“We do not want to join the fray just for saying something but to point out succinctly why the North West should be the zone to produce the next Senate President based on the following empirical analysis.

“It is therefore because of the reason that without winning an election, there would be nothing on the table to share that we drum support for the North West that contributes most to the election of the to derive the benefit of what they have worked for.”

They appealed to both the National Working Committee and the party Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, “and in fact all other interests concerned to zone the Senate Presidency to the North West and give it to Senator Barau Jubrin who is the most experienced lawmaker from the zone.

“He has just been elected to the National Assembly as a Senator for the third time, having been voted in as a Representative once before.”