By Nkechi Odoma
The nation is awash with stories and permutations as to who emerges the President of the Senate of the 8th National Assembly. In line with the constitution, Nigerians should know who takes this cake sometimes in the first week of June when the National Assembly is proclaimed. But beyond knowing who becomes the next Senate President, in the spirit of change, citizens should make their voices heard since democracy is all about participating in the processes leading up to the emergence of leaders.
We must weigh in because the wind of change that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has brought must not be allowed to mutate into a situation where we are collectively saddled with a parliament that will relish in running on the basis of business as usual.
Should this happen, the Messiah of change, General Muhammadu Buhari, could find himself incapacitated by a parliament whose leadership may work at cross purpose with him. As the street parlance goes, this is why we must ‘shine our eyes’.
We are however constrained by several factors. One is that the APC must zone the Senate presidency to one of the six geopolitical zones. Feelers are that the North-central will again produce the Senate President.
This brings us to the other factor that the Senate Rule allows only a ranking senator to be selected for this purpose and being that the APC has the majority, the candidate must also come from within its caucus. Eligible senators-elect have thus stepped up campaigns to be Nigeria’s next number three citizen. Top of the list are Senators Abdullahi Adamu, George Akume, Danjuma Goje and Bukola Saraki. Outgoing Senate President, David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, are however out of the game for apparent reasons.
Zoning the position to the North-central thus narrows the choices to Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa state, George Akume, Benue state, and Bukola Saraki of Kwara.
In Nigeria issues of ethnic and religious affiliations still play key roles in determining who gets what and gives this sense of “carrying everyone along”, akin to the concept of allowing occupation of public offices to reflect the principle of Federal Character. The number one man is Fulani and a Muslim, Abdullahi Adamu is also Fulani and a Muslim, this may not go down well with other groups as a good balance of power. This factor plus the fact that he just joined the APC recently when a group of politicians from the new-PDP decided to join the APC may make him less suitable for the position.
Next is Senator George Akume, a Tiv from Benue state.
His ethnicity places him as coming from about the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, which cuts across at least four states in the North-central. This should make him a massive unifying factor in that region and by extension the entire nation. Akume is a Christian so that provides religious balance in the structure of government. He has been governor for eight years, senator for eight years now, and experience from other spheres and education that imbue him with the requisite knowledge.
He has been the minority leader in the Senate; he has been the leader of all APC senators in the last four years.
In those four years, squabbles in the minority caucus are non-existent so his ability to lead is not in doubt here. Also, since joining the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which later went into the merger that produced APC, Akume has shown unquestionable loyalty to the party, a quality that would be useful in the days ahead as the new government pushes through needed reforms.
Apparently, it was this loyalty that made Akume, as a senator, helped the APC to win the presidential elections in Benue state and even almost defeated the incumbent Senate President in his senatorial district.
He won another extra seat for the APC with Barnabas Gemade and is equally still working hard to win the entire state and its neigbours like Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and some parts of Kogi for the party. A politician with this kind of clout is thus an asset to the APC as he already has a formidable network.
This leaves us with one man standing.Bukola Saraki though not Fulani, is also a Muslim from Kwara state and a strong contender for Senate president. He has a lot going for him as his loyalists credit him for “working” while he was Kwara state governor. Saraki’s contribution to the outgoing National Assembly has been robust particularly in the discharge of his duty as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment. While this record offers him the chances to take a shot at the Senate Presidency, he may however have to play catch up with Akume, who appears as the leading contender.
Assuming Saraki can somehow boost his credentials within the few weeks left before the proclamation of a new National Assembly, there is yet another issue. Like Abdulahi Adamu being of the same ethnic stock
as the number one man, some will argue that the former Kwara state governor as the third citizen would be of the same ethnic stock as the incoming number two even though his state is technically listed as North-central. So for Saraki faces a not too favourable ethnic configuration.
In conclusion, there are several permutations as to who emerges the Senate President. The leadership of the APC and the incoming government must however realise that now that the elections have been won and lost they are no longer answerable to only their party but to the entire 170 million Nigerians.
The product they promised to sell is change that is premised on fairness and getting the best hands to do the job. These are factors they must bear in mind when they instruct their members in Senate on what direction to choose as a caucus. And by the way, it is too early to make mistakes.
Lady Odoma, Chairperson, Africa Arise for Change Network, wrote from Asokoro, Abuja.
