The race for presidency of the 9th senate, to be inaugurated
in June, has already started. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has secured
60 of the 95 seats announced so far, with the winners of the 14 remaining seats
still being awaited.
The top contender for that position of senate president has
to be Ahmad Lawan, senator representing Yobe north senatorial district.
He was believed to have been favoured for the position by
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Lawan was re-elected by his constituents on Saturday and is
one of the ranking APC senators.
Four years ago, the APC caucus in the senate was divided
over the leadership of the national assembly. In an attempt to broker peace
between the two APC factions, the president had summoned an emergency meeting
at the International Conference Centre (ICC). While Lawan and his supporters
were there, Bukoal Saraki teamed up with the PDP to become the nation’s No. 3
citizen.
In the end, Lawan was compensated with the position of
senate majority leader.
HE REMAINED LOYAL TO THE APC NONTHELESS
Despite his hopes getting shattered, Lawan stayed with the
APC even when the party was hit with wave of defections. On one occasion, APC lost
14 senators with Saraki announcing his exit shortly after.
Amid the defection storm, Lawan remained there to lead his
colleagues and defend the APC. He defended the president for not signing the
electoral act amendment bill and opposed those who contemplated impeaching the president.
ONE OF THE LONGEST SERVING LEGISLATORS
Lawan has been a member of the national assembly since the
return of democracy in 1999, together with David Mark and Nicholas Mutu.
He was first elected a member of the house of
representatives in where he chaired the committees on education and agriculture
at different times. After eight years in the lower legislative chamber, Lawan
took a shot at the senate in 2007 and was elected to represent Yobe north
district, a position he has held ever since.
He is unarguably one of the most experienced APC lawmaker
returning to the 9th senate, having been at the two chambers.
STRONG ACADEMIC RECORDS
The 60-year-old is a graduate of the University of Maiduguri
where he read geography. He also has a postgraduate diploma in land survey, an
MSc and PhD in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS), all from
the University of Cranfield, United Kingdom.
TINUBU’S ADMIRATION FOR HIM
At a recent meeting of some APC leaders in Ibadan, Oyo
state, Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the APC, spoke glowingly of Lawan. He
defended the party’s choice of him as senate president in 2015, praising his
continued loyalty to the party.
“Senator Lawan … you are a great example of a very
consistent and intellectually resourceful leader that we have in this country,”
he said.
“We saw in him, these leadership traits and the qualities we
wanted in the Senate President. We know you are qualified and competent to be,
that you would have led the most important arm of our government more
effectively but the political prostitutes and their robbers and their
collaborators denied you of it because of selfishness and selfish
aggrandisement.
“But instead of fleeing, you remained constant and
consistent, seeing this institution as a place for truly lawmaking that we the
people and you have remained consistent and constant ever since on a
progressive stand. Thank you.”
LAWAN GETTING SET?
Shortly after he won reelection bid, the senator the APC is
not only confident of producing the next senate president but that such senate
leadership will mend the broken ties between the legislature and the executive.
“This time, it will not be the kind of National Assembly
that will betray the trust of Nigerians; the national assembly will support Mr
President to meet the needs of Nigerians,” he had said.
“The time for unnecessary bickering and opposition has come
to an end; we cannot afford to waste more time on unnecessary politics and
denying the people of Nigeria the much needed development. The national
assembly will support and cooperate with the president to effectively serve the
interest of Nigerians.”
Sounds like he already has his plans all figured out and
just waiting for the big moment.
Apart from Lawan, there are other ranking senators who could
become senate president if the position is zoned to the north-east or
north-central.
ABDULLAHI ADAMU
Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa state who will be
serving his third time in the senate, is a possible candidate for the job. The
senator was once accused of plotting the removal of Saraki but he later denied
this, describing Saraki as his son. He represents Nasarawa west senatorial
district.
ALI NDUME
Ndume who represents Borno south senatorial district is also
another possible contender. He is also returning to the upper legislative
chamber for a third term. He was made the senate leader along the line but was
later removed in January 2007.
DANJUMA GOJE
A two-time governor of Gombe state, Goje has been
representing Gombe central in the senate since 2011. He is arguably one of the
most vocal lawmakers in the senate and is in the mentions as possibly the next
senate president. He currently chairs the senate committee on appropriation.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com