Senate Presidency: Why the Cap Fits Akpabio

By Ephraim Afuanya

The 10th Senate must set sight on the stability of the country and on offering robust legislative synergy to the Executive under the leadership of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu (to be sworn in May 29).

To achieve this, that branch of government must be led by a sagacious, visionary, and dynamic leader; one who understands the peculiarities, complexities, and contradictions of Nigeria.

There is no other Senator-whether ranking or greenhorn-that possesses the above qualities than Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio. This must have informed the decision of the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC to micro-zone the Senate presidency to the South-South geo-political zone and specifically to Senator Akpabio.

It now behooves members of the 10th Senate, crucially, all APC senators, to rally support for Senator Akpabio and concretize the party’s choice by ensuring he emerges President of the Senate at the inauguration of the National Assembly next month.

In Senator Akpabio, Nigeria will be having a man with a cross-breed, all-around experience as the chairman of the National Assembly.

For example, in politics, Senator Akpabio possesses Executive and legislative experiences having served four years as a Commissioner-serving in three key ministries: Petroleum and Natural Resources, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, as well as Lands and Housing- eight years as Governor of Akwa Ibom state, four years as a principal officer of the Senate (Senate Minority Leader) and three-and-half years as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Senator Akpabio understands the nitty-gritty of public administration and management of human resources having bestrode the corporate world as a top Management Executive working with  EMIS Telecoms Limited, a wireless telecommunications company in Lagos where he rose to the position of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer 

And if transformational achievements are the yardstick to measure qualification for the office of the President of the Senate, then, Senator Akpabio perfectly fits the bill as his landmark socio-economic and infrastructural revolution in Akwa Ibom as Governor remains a reference point for good governance in Nigeria till today.

The high office of the Presidency of the Senate which is the third in the hierarchy of power in Nigeria is not an office for the academically unsound.

Anyone aspiring to occupy it must possess a requisite academic record and a sound intellect, Senator Akpabio has these. His rich law background further equips him for the very gargantuan task of leading not just the Senate but the National Assembly.

 As a lawyer, Akpabio’s profession recommends him highly for the job. 

His law background will come in handy as Senate President in terms of policies formulation  and law-making

In zoning the Senate presidency to the South-South, the APC was conscious of the sacrifices the zone has made for Nigeria in terms of environmental devastation as a result of oil exploration and production.

Being the geese that lay the golden egg (crude oil, Nigeria’s economic mainstay) and having suffered unspeakable marginalization in the past, it is expected that Senator Akpabio’s emergence as the next president of the Senate will calm frayed nerves and assuage anger in the South-south. 

Notedly, the enormous votes the South-South zone produced, especially in Akwa Ibom state, for the APC in the last presidential election makes  Senator Akpabio’s selection as Senate president more deserving, more so when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that the last time the zone produced the Senate President was 44 years ago in the person of the late Dr. Joseph Wayas.

If the 10th Senate must give Nigeria robust and people-centered- laws and chart a new course in the Executive – Legislature relationship, the man to lead it and make those happen is Senator Godwill Obot Akpabio.

He is not magisterial, he is accessible, he is a bridge-builder, a quintessential administrator, a legislator par excellence, and a lawyer.

Senator Akpabio is the man for the Senate’s topmost job. The cap fits him!

*Offiong, a public affairs analyst, lives in Abuja.