Palpable tension envelopes the Senate over principal officers’ positions as Senators resume plenary on Tuesday July 4, 2023 from a three-week recess which commenced June 14.
The 10th Senate had a day after its inauguration and election of presiding officers; Senators Godswill Akpabio as Senate President and Jibrin Barau as Deputy Senate President June 30, 2023, adjourned plenary the following day for three weeks to pave way for relevant political parties and in-house caucuses, to nominate principal officers for the eight available positions.
Four out of the eight principal officers’ positions to be occupied by nominated lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), are the Senate Leader, Deputy Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip.
Senators on the platforms of the seven minority parties in the Senate also have four principal positions of Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip to occupy.
But three weeks after the recess, feelers from the camp of senators within the fold of the ruling APC and those in the minority parties indicate that concrete and consensus arrangements were yet to be made for such nominations.
Within the APC, where ranking Senators from the remaining 57 Senators excluding the two presiding officers , are to be nominated through a letter to that effect by the national leadership of the party, no sign to that effect as at the time of filing this story.
Sources within the party disclosed to Blueprint that the contest between Senator Ali Ndume and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele for Senate leadership position caused the delay on the expected communication from the party to the Senate President.
A source among the APC Senators from the North-central also gave similar reason when contacted Monday.
The Senator who pleaded anonymity, said: “The fierce contest between Ndume and Bamidele for position of majority leader in the 10th Senate is causing a lot of tension, and has polarised the entire membership of APC Senators which cannot be singularly handled by the Senate leadership without involvement of national leaders of the party.”
The tension according to the source, got heightened at the weekend when Senate President Akpabio his deputy, Senator Barau, and some other senators, including Ndume and Bamidele, paid Sallah homage to the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, at his country home in Keffi, Nasarawa state, without the chairman keeping mum on the letter from the party to the Senate leadership on those nominated for principal officers’ positions.
Though the Adamu, in his remarks during the visit, had said it was a relief for the party that its choice of Akpabio and Barau sailed through at inauguration, but his silence on the party’s choices for available principal positions; shows that concrete decision had yet to be taken.
Minority parties
Feelers from the Minority parties particularly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has 36 out of the 50 lawmakers across the seven minority parties, show that the national leadership of the party is rooting for immediate past governor of Kebbi state, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as Minority leader.
But strident opposition against Tambuwal’s choice by the camp of former Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, may scuttle it and create crisis within the PDP fold and the Senate generally.
This is even as one of the PDP Senators from South-south where Wike hails from said neither the party nor the minority caucus has taken decision on minority principal officers’ positions for the 10th Senate.
Specifically, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (PDP Cross River North) in a telephone conversation Monday with Blueprint Newspaper, said: “The minority caucus has not met on how to share the four positions.
“Though PDP has 36 Senators out of the 50 Senators on the platform of the seven minority parties in the Senate, but there is need to carry the 14 other Senators on the platforms of other parties along.”
‘PDP NWC still consulting’
In a related development, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) said it is still consulting other members of the party on who to put forward for the minority Senate positions.
The party’s NWC also hinted that it would send the list of nominees for Minority leader and other principal officer positions meant for opposition to Akpabio when consultation is completed.
According to a statement by the party National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, this resolution was reached Monday at the end of a meeting with NWC and PDP Senate Caucus in Abuja.
He said the importance of a virile and stable opposition in the Senate and the National Assembly was emphasised in the meeting.
Ologunagba also disclosed that the Caucus assured it would play that important role in the defense of democracy, the interest and wellbeing of Nigerians.
“The meeting condemned in its entirety the alleged subterranean moves by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to meddle with the affairs of the Minority with regards to the emergence of the Minority Leadership which is an exclusive reserve of the Minority Caucus as expressly stipulated by Constitutional provisions and Standing Rules of the Senate.
“The PDP and the Senators continue with consultations on the emergence of the Minority Leadership in the Senate and are resolved to collectively present a unified leadership after due and conclusive considerations. Accordingly, the PDP will continue to provide the necessary leadership in this regard.
“Consequently, the meeting resolved that the PDP NWC communicates to the Senate President, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio, on the on-going consultation in the Minority Caucus to the effect that the nominations into the Minority leadership positions in the Senate has not been concluded and that upon conclusion, the nominated list will be formally conveyed to him appropriately for necessary action.
“The PDP NWC commends the members of the PDP Caucus in the Senate for their unity, steadfastness, loyalty to the party and commitment towards the sustenance and deepening of democracy in our country,” the party said.
