Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, on Sunday opposed the zoning of the presiding officers, who include the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the principal officers of the 10th National Assembly. Ndume speaking on Channels Television on Sunday argued that the office of the Senate President is not regional entitlement, but an issue to be decided by the federal legislators. He insisted that the leadership of the 10th National Assembly should not be zoned to any geopolitical entity but thrown open in the first instance to all members of the federal legislature.
According to him, “the senate president is not a regional office, but the senate president of the Nigerian National Assembly.” He maintained that the senate president would be elected from the 109 senators in the National Assembly. He added, however, that he is waiting for the decision of his party, noting that APC senators would not want to repeat the mistakes of the past in electing presiding officers against the wish of the party leadership.
Senator Ndume admitted that this is not the right time form to become Senate President, pointing out, however, that the constitution does not forbid him from contesting for the office.
Ndume argued that because the APC produced the next President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from the South-West, and the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, from the North-East, does not prohibit lawmakers from the two zones to contest for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
The Senator from Borno State had declared: “Of course, if I say I want to contest and the party says, ‘No, it’s not fair for the Senate President to come from the North or the North-East, do we then now say that we want to contest against the wish of the party which we did at one time and the aftermath was a bit clumsy and we don’t want to have a repetition of that?
“For me, the leadership of the National Assembly should be open in the first instance.
“The Senate President is not supposed to be a regional President; it’s a Senate President of the Nigerian Senate.
“We have 109 senators. The leadership emergence is not clearly stated. Section 50 of the constitution states that the Senate President shall be elected among the members.”
Of the 109 senators, APC has over 55 seats, and over 160 of the 360 members of the House of Representatives seats.
Meanwhile, aspirants for the senate president include Orji Kalu, Jibrin Barau, Godswill Akpabio, Dave Umahi, Ahmad Lawan, Adams Oshiomhole, Abdulaziz Yari, Osita Izunaso, etc.
Some APC leaders have made cases for the senate president to be zoned to the south-south for equity, while others argued for the zoning of the senate president to the southeast. And of course, Orji Kalu stated that it is his turn to be senate president, and urged the APC leaders to give him the office to complement the leadership of the new President Tinubu.