South-East Does Not Deserve Senate Presidency, Says Kano Senator Jibrin

The politics of the 10th Senate appears to have kicked off as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Barau Jibrin, has said the North-West zone which produced the highest number of votes for the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, must produce the next senate president and not the South-East.

This is as he declared his ambition to contest the position on Wednesday, in Abuja.

THE WHISTLER reports that APC has 57 senator-elects, PDP with 29; Labour Party with six; New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, with two; Social Democratic Party, SDP, also with two; the All Progressives Grand Alliance. APGA, and Young Peoples Party, YPP, won one each, making it the most diverse in Nigeria’s history.

For a senator to emerge as Senate President, he must win by a simple majority of the senators present during the convocation of the Assembly by the president based on the 2015 amendment embarked upon by the 9th senate.

The senate during plenary amended its Standing Rules 2015 where it approved a simple majority for the election of presiding officers instead of two-third majority canvassed for.

With APC boasting of 57 senator-elects, it leaves 52 senator-elects for the contestants to lobby, reminiscent of the 2015 election when a protracted negotiation within the majority party, the APC, stalled unanimity thereby allowing the PDP to profit from the process.

The APC’s Bukola Saraki made a deal with the PDP and was elected Senate President while the PDP’s Ike Ekweremadu was elected Deputy Senate President.

The APC appears to be toeing that path as Jubrin has joined the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Kalu, who had on Tuesday expressed his interest for the position.

Also interested to be President of the Senate are Sani Musa (Niger), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) but they are yet to declare their interest officially.

But Jubrin repudiated Kalu’s call for the APC to zone the position to the South-East saying the position must not be occupied on the basis of sentiment.

The senator, who is representing Kano Central Senatorial District in the 9th Senate, told journalists in Abuja that,“I intend to seek to be the President of the 10th Senate. In the next few days, I will start my campaign and make a formal declaration.”

The Kano senator noted that, “Legislature is a distinct arm of government that doesn’t work based on sentiments, it works on your ability to get the job done. It is the tradition all over the world and it is also stated there in our rule book and the rules are drafted from our constitutions.”

According to him, “It is stated there in our standing rules that aspirations of elections for the seat of the Senate Presidency shall be in accordance with ranking.

“Among those who are running for the seat of the Senate Presidency, I am the most ranked senator.

“So, it’s constitutional and among those who are showing their intentions to run for the Senate Presidency, I am the most experienced.

“The issue is that of competence. You need to be grounded in the residue of the legislature before you become the Senate Presidency. Do you now play against competence based on sentiments?

“Remember that David Mark was a Christian, his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, was a Christian and the Speaker, Patricia Etteh, was a Christian because they were the most experienced and ranking and that is the tradition, so do we now relegate competence for other sentiments.

“The National Assembly has the latitude to regulate its own procedures as a distinct arm of government. That’s why we have our standing rules.

“It is clear in the Senate Standing Rule that aspiration or election for the Office of the Senate President shall be in accordance with ranking and most experienced.

“Among those who are seeking to occupy that office, I have the highest ranking and most experienced.

“The issue is that of competence. You need to be grounded in procedures of legislation and other activities of the parliament before becoming the Senate President.

“As we speak, I’m number one among those who are aspiring to become Senate President in terms of experience.

“There was a time we had a Christian Senate President, David Mark, and the deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, a Christian and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, a Christian.

“They were the most experienced and ranking at that time. Competence was not relegated for sentiment then.

“Bringing religious sentiment won’t fly. It’s about competence not sentiment. When we talk about experience, I’m the most experienced.

“There is a need to reward performance. The North-west deserves to produce the Senate President because we gave the President-elect the highest votes.

“We want our president to go for a second term. We saw what he did in Lagos and want him to replicate that across the country.

“In 2015, when President Buhari was declared the winner, he tried to give attention to the area that gave him the highest votes. Key government positions were zoned to the North-west and North-east to reward the people.

“As Senate President, I will be there for the country, I will work hard for the country until we take it to the level we so desire.”