10th Senate: Ex-South-south Lawmakers Clash With North-West CoalitionSÇ

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja.

A coalition of various groups in the North West geopolitical zone under the aegis of Northern Business Roundtable and a group of former National Assembly members from the South-South, yesterday, laid separate claims to the position of the 10th Senate Presidency.

They asked the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to respect their individual positions or risk a dramatic legislative display at the red chamber on the day of 10th National Assembly inauguration.
While the North West Coalition group said the position should go to Senator-elect Abdulaziz Yari, the South-South ex-federal legislators said any elected senator from the South-south was qualified to take the seat.

Both groups addressed journalists at separate fora in Abuja.
The National Coordinator of the Peoples Support Group, Hajia Larai Kolo, spoke on behalf of the Northern Business Roundtable while Rt. Hon. John Agoda and Senator Clever Ikisekpo, spoke on behalf of 16 other federal lawmakers.
The North West group  expressed surprise over the zoning arrangements for the 10th National Assembly leadership positions recently announced by the APC and demanded a reversal of the action.

“We in the North West were taken aback and very surprised by the purported zoning announcement and the thought that such could be contemplated, knowing that we bring the highest number of votes to the table during elections. To whom much is given, much is also expected, the North West in the current dispensation and the last presidential election gave the highest votes.

“Apart from this, it is noteworthy that the APC Governors from the North West led their other colleagues to demand that the Presidency should be zoned to the South. This alone, common sense should prevail that after the presidency has been zoned and delivered to the South, the Vice-President to the North East, the next position should go to the North West.

“It will be a betrayal to the people of the North West if the Senate President is not given to us. If the issue is not addressed immediately and anomaly corrected, any Senator who votes for anyone who is not from the North West for the position of the Senate President will no longer enjoy our support and that of our traditional leaders.”

The group, however, said, “Competence, character, and pedigree should determine positions, and Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Zamfara West Senator-elect has what it takes to be the country’s next Senate President. He is well known and has done very well.”
In their own submissions, the Forum of the former South-South National Assembly members, noted that it was the prerogative of Senators-elect to choose their presiding officers, they urged the APC and Tinubu, to resist any attempt to review the zoning arrangements that had already been announced.
While saying ranking should not be a major consideration for electing the Senate President, the Forum said, “Unlike the House of Representatives, where only ranking members can aspire to the Speakership and Deputy Speakership positions, all Senators-elect are qualified to contest for the offices of Senate President and Deputy Senate President.”

According to the group, “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of (its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies.
“In compliance with this Constitutional position, the country’s ethno-religious, cultural, and regional diversity and balance must be considered. In this context, the existing arrangement, whereby the office of the President of the Senate, the Deputy Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives are rotated between Northern and Southern Nigeria, be strictly adhered to.
“We strongly commend, appreciate and applaud the leadership for zoning the Office of the Senate President to the South-South and urge that this zoning be sustained.”

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Democracy (CD) in a statement by its National President, Ifeanyi Odili, has cautioned desperate aspirants for the positions of the Senate President to apply caution so as not to plunge Nigeria into a fresh political quagmire.
The CD said it  had “noticed with great concern, the unpleasant permutation going on at the National Assembly (both Green and Red chambers). The rate at which politicians have been using their ill-gotten wealth to woo old and new members to garner support for the Senate Presidency and House of Reps speakership is alarming, embarrassing, portraying the image of the nation in a bad light.

“It is sad to note that Nigerian politicians had yet to understand that it is critical for them to shun corruption at this stage of our nation’s building. They don’t want to accept that the level of political, and economic lopsidedness bedeviling the nation is a direct consequence of their corruption and unpatriotic attitude to the nation.”