With the National Assembly elections over, senators and members of the House of Representatives are expected to return to the trenches. This time, the battle to succeed Ahmad Lawan as President of the Senate, Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ovie Omo-Agege as Deputy President of the Senate and Idris Wase as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, will take the centre stage in the coming days.
Though it doesn’t have a commanding majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), having produced President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor, is expected to produce the next leaders of the parliament
Already, the South West has produced the President-elect. The North East produced the Vice President-elect. President Buhari who is counting days to the end of his tenure, is from North West. The current President of the Senate, Lawan, hails from North East. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President, hails from Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s South West. The South South currently occupies the position of the Deputy President of the Senate, while North Central holds the position of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
From the above analysis, only the South East geopolitical zone is completely missing from the political equation in the current dispensation. The region, which many stakeholders believe has been marginalised since 2015, doesn’t also head any known security outfit, the judiciary or any layer of government in the country.
In the coming dispensation, political pundits are advancing the argument that the South East should produce the next President of the Senate. Unlike in 2015 when the geopolitical zone didn’t produce any APC senator, in the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections, the South East produced six senators-elect on the platform of the ruling APC.
According to stakeholders, the region has been well-placed to produce the next President of the Senate. Of the six APC senators from the geopolitical zone, there are ranking members who understand the legislative business and can pilot the affairs of the National Assembly.
Already, a coalition of Northern youth groups, under the aegis of Arewa Peace Initiative, has appealed to the President-elect, Tinubu and leadership of APC to zone the seat of the Senate President to the South East region in the interest of peace and stability.
The national coordinator of the group, Yakubu Muh’d, said: “We call on Mr. President-elect, all members of the National Assembly, APC leadership, and any other relevant stakeholders to consider South-east as a region that deserved to produce the Senate President of the 10th National Assembly.”
He said the region should be allowed to produce the next Senate President for peace and stability, adding: “Our party should consider National interest above every other thing by allowing the South-east region to produce the next Senate President since we have the President from the Southwest and his vice from the Northeast.
“There is a climate of opinion that the Igbo from the South-east are still being victimised in Nigeria, especially during the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“2023 presents a perfect opportunity for President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the APC to integrate the Southeast region into mainstream politics and also to stabilize the nation for peace and national development.
“We as Northern youths from the 19 Northern states are appealing to our President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to consider the South East geopolitical zone for the office of the Senate President.”
Beyond the aforementioned, there are arguments that precedents had been set by Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Ya’Adua and Buhari. For instance, when Obasanjo held sway as President, the President of the Senate hailed from South East. Obasanjo was from South West.
During Ya’Adua, who hailed from North West, the President of the Senate was from North Central. Upon Buhari’s ascension to office in 2015, the North Central produced the President of the Senate. Buhari hails from North West. The current President of the Senate, Lawan, hails from North East.
“With Tinubu from the South West, the next President of the Senate should ordinarily come from the South East. That’s commonsense. I think APC should seriously give the South East a sense of belonging,” a political commentator noted.
Front runners for Senate Presidency
Orji Uzor Kalu
Dr Kalu is the current Chief Whip of the 9th Senate. He’s a former governor of Abia State and a former member of the House of Representatives in the botched Third Republic. Considered to be the frontrunner for the Senate Presidency, Kalu’s cosmopolitan approach to issues, is considered an asset.
The business mogul is also considered as a friend across the Niger, having started his business in Borno. His rich contacts in the South and across the two main religions- Christianity and Islam, are considered as huge assets.
He is also a national figure and is considered a stabiliser, having played a role in settling many rifts among Ministers in President Buhari’s administration and senators over sundry issues.
His most glaring political stride is his role in frustrating the Third Term Agenda of President Obasanjo in 2007, despite the political consequences that eventually followed. As a Christian, Kalu’s election as President of the Senate, is expected to create the needed religious balancing.
Ahmad Lawan
Ahmad Lawan is the current President of the Senate. Despite the many bad stories associated with his style of leadership, he has however achieved a lot, with the passage into law of many landmark bills. However, the fact that he hails from the same geopolitical zone with the Vice President-elect, Shettima, is considered a huge disadvantage. Lawan is also a Muslim. With an incoming Muslim-Muslim President and Vice, stakeholders believe that having another Muslim as President of the Senate will cause more rift.
Godswill Akpabio
Godswill Akpabio is a former governor of Akwa Ibom State. He’s also a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in the administration of President Buhari. Akpabio, in 2015, emerged as Minority Leader of the Senate, despite protests from ranking lawmakers then. Coming from a region that produced the current Deputy President of the Senate and a former President of the country, his chances of replacing Lawan are slim.
Akpabio’s purported betrayal of his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), may be his biggest undoing. In 2018, Akpabio without notice, dumped the PDP and aligned with the ruling APC. With a diverse 10th Senate and the PDP producing the main opposition structure, Akpabio’s sins may catch up with him.
Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko
Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, is former governor of Sokoto State and a close ally of Tinubu. Though considered a possible candidate for the position of the President of the Senate, his Islamic background, maybe his Achilles heel.
In the meantime, more than one week after the conduct of the tensed presidential election, winners and losers for the various elective positions have emerged. For the first time since 1999, the election was too close to predict a clear winner. Again, for the first time since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, Nigeria witnessed a three-horse race between Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC); Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Beyond the contested outcome of the presidential election, winners for the various senatorial districts and federal legislative constituencies, emerged. Again, since 1999, no political party has a commanding majority in both chambers of the National Assembly.
The elections also caused major upsets in the National Assembly, where only 27 out of 109 serving senators, were elected. Ditto for the House of Representatives, where many ranking members were sacked in the raged political tsunami that swept through the country in February.
From the elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) in 109 senatorial districts across the country, only 27 serving senators won re – election.
Composition of the Senate
As provided for by 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there are 109 senatorial districts across the country on the basis of three per each of the 36 states of the federation and the remaining one for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
However, in the outgoing 9th Senate, the 109 senators have been depleted to 104 for reasons bordering on politics and crime in and outside Nigeria.
Those in this category as a result of political expediency are the national chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), his deputy from the North, Senator Abubakar Kyari ( Borno North) and Senator Mohammed Hassan Gusau ( Zamfara Central) who is now the deputy governor of Zamfara State.
The remaining two serving senators who have been out of the Senate since last year on alleged crime related litigations are Senators Ike Ekweremadu (Enugu West) and Peter Nwaoboshi (Delta North ).
Out of the remaining serving 104 Senators, only 55 succeeded in clinching tickets from political parties for re – elections
A breakdown of the 55 senators shows that 31 of them sought re – election on the platform of the APC; 19 on the platform of the PDP; one each on platforms of Young Progressives Party (YPP), LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The 31 serving senators who sought for election on the platform of APC last Saturday, are the President of the Senate himself, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan( Yobe North ), the Senate ‘s Chief Whip , Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North), Ishaku Elisha Abbo (Adamawa North) and Lawal Gumau (Bauchi South).
Others are , Senators Degi Eremieyo (Bayelsa East), Ali Ndume (Borno South), Peter Nwaoboshi ( Delta North), Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central), Alkali Saidu (Gombe North), Amos Kilawangs (Gombe South) and Abdul Kwari Suleiman (Kaduna North).
Also in that category are Senators Jibrin Barau (Kano North), Kabir Gaya (Kano South), Bala Ibn Na’Allah (Kebbi South) , Jibrin Isah (Kogi East), Umar Sadiq Suleiman (Kwara North) and Lola Ashiru (Kwara South).
Also in this category are Senators Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos East), Tanko Al – Makura (Nasarawa South), Sani Musa (Niger East ), Bima Enagi (Niger South) , Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Ogun West), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun Central) and Abdulfattah Buhari (Oyo North) .
The rest who contested in the election with APC tickets are Senators Ibrahim Gobir ( Sokoto East), Aliyu Wammakko (Sokoto North), Ibrahim Abdullahi Danbaba (Sokoto South), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe East), Bomai Ibrahim (Yobe South) and Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u ( Zamfara North).
Serving senators who sought for re – election bids on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are the Minority Leader, Senator Philip Tanimu Aduda (FCT), Senators Yaroe Binos Dauda (Adamawa South), Uche Ekwunife ( Anambra Central), Stella Oduah (Anambra North) , Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West), Gabriel Suswam (Benue North East) and Patrick Abba Moro (Benue South).
Others are Senators Jarigbe Agom (Cross River North), Sam Ominiyi Egwu (Ebonyi North), Micheal Nnachi (Ebonyi South), Clifford Ordia (Edo Central), Francis Alimikhena (Edo North), Abiodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) and Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu East).
In that category also were Senators Ahmed Babba – Kaita (Katsina North), Abdullahi Yahaya ( Kebbi North ), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Barry Mpigi (Rivers South East) and Isa Shuabu Lau (Taraba North).
Those who contested on the platforms of other political parties for the re – election bids were Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA Abia South), Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP Anambra South), Jika Dauda Haliru ( NNPP Bauchi Central), Francis Ezenwa ( LP, Imo East) and Godiya Akwashiki (SDP, Nasarawa North).
The 27 serving senators that got re-elected
On state by state basis , the 27 out of the 55 serving Senators who sought for re – election last Saturday and won, are the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu (APC Abia North), Enyinnaya Abaribe ( APGA Abia South), Elisha Abbo (APC Adamawa North), Ali Ndume (APC Borno South), Binos Dauda Yaroe (PDP Adamawa South).
Others are Senators Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah ( YPP Anambra South), Seriake Dickson ( PDP Bayelsa West), Abba Moro (PDP Benue South), Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (PDP Cross River North) and Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central).
Also succeeded in re – election bid are Senators Danjuma Goje (APC Gombe Central), Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi Central) , Jibrin Isah (APC Kogi East), Lola Ashiru (APC Kwara South ) and Sadiq Suleiman Umar (APC Kwara North).
Others are Senators Adetokunbo Abiru (APC Lagos East), Godiya Akwashiki (SDP Nasarawa North), Francis Fadahunsi (PDP Osun East), Abdulfatah Buhari (APC Oyo North), Barinada Mpigi (PDP Rivers South East) , Aliyu Wammako (APC Sokoto North), Ahmad Lawan (APC Yobe North), Sahabi Ya’u (APC Zamfara North), Sani Musa (APC Niger East), Shuaibu Lau (PDP Taraba North) and Francis Ezenwa ( LP Imo East).
30 Senators who lost out
The 30 Senators who lost out in their return bids are Stella Oduah (PDP Anambra North), Uche Ekwunife (PDP Anambra Central), Jika Dauda Haliru (NNPP Bauchi Central), Gabriel Suswam (PDP Benue North East), Sam Egwu (PDP Ebonyi North) and Micheal Nnachi ( PDP Ebonyi South).
Others are Senators Francis Alimikhena (PDP Edo North), Ordia Clifford (PDP Edo Central), Biodun Olujimi (PDP Ekiti South), Saidu Alkali (APC Gombe North), Abdul – Kwari Suleiman (APC Kaduna North), Ibrahim Gaya (APC Kano South ) and Ahmed Babba Kaita (APC Katsina North).
Also in the category of those who lost out are Senators Bala Ibn Na’ Allah (APC Kebbi South), Tanko Al – Makura (APC Nasarawa South), Ajibola Basiru (APC Osun Central), etc .
Though since 2003, it has been a high turnover of senators at the end of every session, the turnover recorded in the last Saturday election is the lowest which would make the 10th Senate, largely populated by first timers.
