Senator-elect Suleiman Kawu Sumaila, representing Kano South
Senatorial District on the platform of the New Nigeria Political Party (NNPP),
said undemocratic elements are working to undermine the democratic process of
electing the 10th National Assembly presiding officers.
Sumaila said activities leading to the election of presiding
officers have reached a fever pitch, but interlopers are breaching Section 2 of
Senate Rules, which gives powers to 109 senators and the 360 House of
Representatives members to elect their leaders.
He said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should learn from
the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who refused to interfere with the parliament in
2007, stressing that the letter by the APC with the name-dropping of President
Tinubu was dangerous.
Addressing a press conference on Monday in Abuja, Kawu, who
was a former House of Representatives and former Senior Special Adviser to the
President on NASS Matters (HoR), posited that this was the first time in the
history of Nigeria’s democracy that a letter was written to lawmakers-elect on
who to elect.
He insisted that the constitution is explicit on how the
presiding officers of the upper and lower legislative chambers should emerge.
Highlighting the powers of the legislature to decide on
their presiding officers, he said: “The Constitution is explicit about how the
President and Deputy shall be elected. For instance, Chapter 2 of the 9th
Standing Orders of the Senate 2022, as amended, stipulates procedures for the
selection of presiding officers of the Senate.
“Similarly, Section 50(1) a of the 1999 Constitution Amended
states that “there shall be a President and Deputy Senate President, who shall
be elected by members of that House from among themselves”.”
He said the make-up of the 10th Senate was different from
the previous session, with the opposition having a commanding 54 to 59 per cent
majority of senators-elect.
“In the 10th House of Representatives, there are 183
opposition members to 177 members of the ruling APC, so how can they be
dictated to on the choice of presiding officers?” he said.
The lawmaker-elect rejected the micro-zoning of the
presiding officers, fearing that if allowed, this would one day derail the
nascent democracy.
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