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•APC elements plot to allow first timers vie for Senate President, Deputy
•Want open balloting in electing next leadership •Attempt’ll fail –Ndume
•Oshiomhole joins race, commences discreet campaign
From Fred Itua, Abuja
Barely two months to the expiration of the tenure of the National Assembly, strong indications have emerged that some interests in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are mounting pressure on the leadership of the Senate to amend its Standing Rules to allow first timers vie for the positions of President and Deputy president.
It is expected that barring any last minute change, the 10th National Assembly would be inaugurated on June 13, with all 109 senators-elect having emerged.
The APC is in the majority with 59 members; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 36 members; Social Democratic Party (SDP), two; ditto for New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); Labour Party (LP) has eight; Young Progressives Party (YPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) one each. In all, the opposition parties have 50 senators-elect.
The existing Senate Standing Rules, 2022, as amended, however, permits only ranking senators-elect to contest the President and the Deputy President positions.
The Senate Standing Order 3, Rule 2 of the Senate Standing Orders 2022, as amended, provides that the nomination of presiding officers and appointments of Principal Officers and other Officers of the Senate shall be by the ranking of senators.
It states: “Nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointments of principal officers and other officers of the senate or on any parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators in determining ranking, the following order shall apply. Senators returning based on number of times re-elected; senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; and senators elected as senators for the first time.”
From the foregoing, first timers like Adams Oshiomhole, David Umahi, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Okechukwu Ezea and others are automatically disqualified from vying for the two positions.
Daily Sun, however, learnt that desirous of having a firm grip of happenings in the Senate, loyalists of the president-elect, Bola Tinnubu, have launched the plot to compel Senate President, Ahmad Lawan to initiate a hurried amendment of the Senate Standing Orders to allow first timers contest the positions.
A ranking senator who spoke to Daily Sun in confidence, said the pressure on Lawan, was ostensibly to pave the way for their preferred candidates, who are first timers, to vie for the two positions.
He said: “Though Lawan intends to join the race for a re-election, top shots in APC, especially foot soldiers of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have been are insisting that the rules must he changed to give every senator-elect equal opportunities to vie for the two coveted positions. Unless urgent steps are taken by the senators, an amendment maybe smuggled in and hurriedly passed before the expiration of the current National Assembly in early June.”
He claimed it was for this reason that former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who is believed to be a strong ally of Tinubu, has joined the race to replace Lawan.
The lawmaker said Oshiomhole’s chances are predicated on the planned amendment of the Senate Standing Orders, which will pave way for his emergence, though a first timer.
“Oshiomhole’s ambition has the backing of the establishment, who have already gone ahead to set up a campaign structure,” he said.
The source urged other senators to be vigilant, especially on the morning of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2015, when Bukola Saraki emerged Senate President.
“Saraki, in connivance with the Clerk to the National Assembly at the time, printed new Senate rules unknown to other members. It was the new Senate Standing Orders that were used in electing Saraki. I’m not making this up. The records are there in the case filed against Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu by the Federal Government,” the senator said. The lawmaker also revealed the plot by the same APC group to alter the secret ballot option in the Senate Standing Orders to open voting. He said should the plans scale through, it would give the ruling party the chance to blackmail and decide who becomes the next President of the Senate.
He said: “There is a gathering storm. The ruling party doesn’t want to give senators-elect the right to elect their own leaders. Some elements in the party are opposed to a clause in the Standing Orders of the Senate rules. They want to give every senator-elect the right to become President of the Senate or the Deputy. They’ve a particular person in mind and we know the individual who’s s former governor. They want a Senate they can control and we go to sleep, that will not happen. Anywhere in the world, fresh senators don’t assume leadership positions; they need to learn. It is a misnomer and they know it. But they don’t care about the consequences of their actions. We need to stop them,” he said.
Nevertheless, an aspirant for the position of the President of the Senate and former Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has dismissed any attempt to amend the rules. He said such attempts will fail.
In a chat with Daily Sun, Ndume said no amendment would be allowed before the expiration of the 9th National Assembly. Ndume who heads the Senate Committee on Army, said no law forbade any senator-elect from contesting, but that it must be in the order of ranking.
“Which senators will carry out the amendment? Over 80 senators are not returning. You think an amendment is their problem? It will not happen in this Senate. Any attempt, it will fail,” he said.
