Curious turf war at the senate

The 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was at its ridiculous best last week. The upper chamber of the National Assembly is not a stranger to self-deprecating sessions. A number of its sessions have always been waved off by many as a part of the quirks of these bumpy political times. Even at that, the national tragedy inherent in quite a number of the happenings at the 11th is not lost on anyone.

Following on the heels of the interesting session last week that passed for the second reading the National Suicide Prevention Bill that seeks to decriminalize suicide, the Red Chamber turned its attention to a housekeeping matter of great interest.

It all started with the Senate President himself. Obviously perturbed by the unabated stories and permutations on the prospective leadership of the next senate, Senator Akpabio blurted out his surprise that a lot more interest was being shown recently on issues at the Senate. He seemed to know why.

As he puts it, “I know that the position of the president is gone. The position of the vice president is gone. The only one that is left now is the position of Senate president…” The increased interest in the office of the senate president, he said, derives from it being the next available in the hierarchy of political positions in the country.

The Senate president’s manifest disquietude in the chambers of the senate, over the fate of his seat, did not pass without solidarity. A number of his colleagues promptly took up the refrain from him, offered assurances and reassurances that his seat would be safe? But would it?

It was nothing but comical. Or perhaps one more caricature of democracy in Nigeria of the moment. The Senate that is on at the moment, the one that Senator Godswill Akpabio presides over is the 10th, Senate. That was the senate that sat last week. The senate that they are passing a resolution to determine its leadership is the 11th senate. It has not even come into being. How do members of the 10th senate pass a decision picking the leadership for the 11th senate whose members have not even been elected, talk of being inaugurated?

Interestingly, almost half of the members of the present 10th Senate will not return to the senate at the close of the 10th senate. Majority of the senators, especially from the ruling APC had been decimated at their party primaries, betrayed by themselves much earlier. They literarily signed away their independence and integrity with the expectation that it would buy them continuation on their seat.

It was not possible to know if the dislodged senators were part of the awkward resolution assuring Senator Akpabio that he will retain his position as senate president in the next senate.

Beyond the bogus resolution that merely aimed at making Senator Akpabio happy, some of the strands of the senate president’s ’s comment on the tenure of the prime political offices he referred to are really loose. It remains unclear what he meant by the position of the president is gone” and the position of vice president is gone”. Gone as in done for? Or as in written off?

He possibly meant that those seats are secured. But again, are they? By who? The ticket of President Bola Tinubu and the Vice president Kashim Shettima are presently on the ballot for the presidential election of January 16,2027. If Senator Akpabio was talking to a gathering of All Progressives Congress (APC) party faithful, his declaration that the offices of president and vice president “are gone” would likely be interpreted to mean that the positions have been locked in within the party.

The absurdity of the 10th senate that still has eight months to complete its tenure passing a resolution to pick the leadership of the 11th senate, or the senate president portraying the offices of president and vice president as “gone” or secured, long before the presidential election, reflect the disdain for democracy in Nigeria by individuals whose offices ought to be the guardrails of democratic norms.

Interestingly, Senator Akpabio’s fretting over the seat of Senate president in the next senate is linked to one more bout of the characteristic APC elbowing and hustling that appear to accord no respect to set rules and order.

No less than three persons are reported to be interested in contesting for the office of senate president in the next senate in 2027. Curiously of the three names often mentioned, two are not even in the senate yet. They will contest in the next election in 2027, win their elections, get inaugurated as senators, then seek to be senate president.

One of the two is the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma. He brings along no little fascination to the permutations. Uzodinma will not formally complete his governorship tenure until January 2028. However, he has secured his party ticket to contest for the senate in the election of January 2027. How he intends to resolve the intricate plot of his unprecedented adventure is being watched with great interest. Whatever it is, the aspiring senator-governor (or is it governor-senator?) gives Senator Akpabio a cause for concern.

Standing on the mandate of other people, no matter how contentious, has become a common pastime of the Senate. They sing about it, and they pass resolutions on them. Senator Akpabio has only received what is a due fraternal solidarity from his colleagues. It surely is as awkward as it comes for the 10th senate pass a resolution binding the hands of the next senate. That is a futile resolution, but what do the senators care? They all left the chamber happy.