For Senate Presidency
The race for who becomes the leader of the 10th Assembly is on. The personalities with the pedigree and the political might to contest for the office of the Senate President have already raised their voices loud and clear and threw their hats into the ring. But, if you ask those who have followed closely the political permutations and development, the race, as it is, is as good as over. There appears to be only one favoured candidate, and he is the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.
Many were shocked at the emergence of the former governbor of Akwa Ibom State as a front runner to the senate presidency. The one person in whose direction everyone was looking to clinch the seat was the President-elect’s very good friend, former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu. He was one of the first, if not the very first, to jump out of the blocks firing on all cylinders. He made it clear he wanted the seat and showed a desire and hunger that left no one in doubt as to his seriousness. His claim to the throne, apart from being a very close friend of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is hinged on the fact that he is a ranking officer of the senate. Out of the lot vying for the throne, he coinsiders himse3lf the most experienced.
Weeks ago, the Abia strong man spoke to press men, “I will like the party to zone it to my zone, to my village in Igbere because the president-elect needs people of high character to turn around the economy and work for the masses and make laws that will enable him turn around the economy. This is because, I am an economic person, an entrepreneur,” he said.
And as to why he feels he is most qualified, Orji Uzor Kalu responded: “The Senate has rules. Let me be honest with you, if we practice true democracy, I should not be in contest with any body, because apart from the senate president, deputy senate president,the senate Leader, I am the next ranking member in the Senate going by the position I occupy today in the 9th Senate. It is virtually impossible that the Senate will elect or zone it to a new member of the Senate. The Senate is an established institution that needs somebody with an experience,some one with the skills and will be able to relate,” Orji Kalu said.
Unfortunately, things didn’t quite pan out for Kalu the way he expected. The senate presidency was not zoned to the south- east, it appears it will be taken to the south-south. And this is where Godswill Akpabio emerged favourite to clinch the seat. And from all indications, he has the backing and the endorsement of the President-elect.
According to Abdullahi Ganduje, the outgoing Kano Governor said the decision to nominate Akpabio was already a done deal, but he did not explain if it was a decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership. “The senate president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will come from the south-south and it is no other person than the former governor of Akwa Ibom,” he said. “The uncommon governor, the uncommon minister who is going to be the uncommon president of the senate. So we have resolved that.
“I am giving you assurance, we are waiting for the D-Day that he will be the senate president of Nigeria.”
And if anyone was still in doubt, the drama that happened at a political event two weeks ago in which the President-elect specially asked Godswill Akpabio to step out and speak to the gathering is a clear testament to the fact that Akpabio not only has the endorsement of Asiwaju, he also has the support of his colleagues. By the time Akpabio stepped out to make his speech, over 40 lawmakers had joined him on stage in solidarity to publicly endorse him as the next Senate President of the 10th Assembly.
But what went wrong? Why couldn’t Asiwaju help instal his friend whose mother he had traveled to Abia to meet many weeks before the presidential election to get her blessings? Why wasn’t the senate presidency zoned to the south-east like many expected?
According to City People investigation, there were series of internal wranglings going on within the top hierachy of the party. Many disagreed with Kalu’s position that the senate presidency should be zoned to the south east. They argued that the east gave the president-elect no support whatsoever and so did not deserve to reap where they did not sow. Electorally, the Igbo gave Asiwaju no votes, no support and even after he won the election, the loudest protest against his swearing-in is coming from the east. And other APC stalwarts are asking, what did Kalu do to galvanise support for Tinubu? How come he won his own senatorial seat with a landslide and even right there in his ward, Tinubu got almost zero vote?
Some party leaders have even accused him of being APC by day, Labour Party by night. They have demanded to know why Orji Kalu was never visible during Tinubu’s campaign tours. Even when the President-elect’s campaign train came to the south –east, Orji Kalu was no where to be found. It was preposterous, they insisted, for him to expect the senate presidency to fall right on his laps without him lifting a finger to work for it and earn it. How about those who worked for it? How about the likes of Godswill Akpabio who was not a visible feature of Asiwaju’s campaign, he also worked hard to ensure Tinubu got massive votes from the south-south. And now, the Igbo leaders are crying foul!
One person who has been visibly disappointed in the Igbo is the President-elect’s spokesman in the south-east, Dr. Josef Onoh. He simply couldn’t understand why the Igbo elders are crying foul play when they are well aware of the consequences of their actions when they turned a blind eye when the Igbo were casting aspersions on the personality of the president-elect and showed their hatred for him by ensuring none of their kinsmen voted for him.
Hear him: “I’m asking them, where were the equity and fairness when they failed to show any support or cast any vote for Asiwaju or publicly campaign for Asiwaju? Where were the equity and fairness when they cast all their eggs in one basket and perpetually promoted divide and hate?
”It’s baffling and mind-boggling that the ripple over zoning of the Senate president to southeast is being promoted by the same elders such as Ohanaeze Ndigbo that said they do not recognize Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as President-elect. They are also the same self-styled elders that have turned around to ask that Asiwaju should not be sworn in until the court takes the final decision.
“What I expected from the people contesting the seat of the Senate president was to call these elders to order because they are promoting divide. How can you be asking for Senate Presidency from the same person that you are asking that he should not be sworn-in. How can we be asking for Senate presidency when we are the ones agitating to leave Nigeria, yet our senators and leaders have not addressed that. I think that we need to sit down to address these issues.
“How can we be asking for Senate presidency when some of our own senators in the APC, with the exception of Senator-elect Dave Umahi and Senator Isita Izunaso, did not vote for Asiwaju nor joined him for campaigns in the Southeast? We need to tell ourselves the home truth and begin to harmonise our political choices and accept Nigeria as our own country and join hands in building it,” Onoh said.
He noted that other ethnic groups in Nigeria sacrificed their time to campaign for Tinubu and deserve to have such positions as Ndigbo are canvassing for, stressing that the Ohanaze Ndigbo’s rejection of Tinubu was a major factor militating against the south east quest in the coming 10th National Assembly.
He stated that some actions go beyond Tinubu’s personal choice and preference because there are decisions that require the input of the political party members and other stakeholders; else they will turn against the President-elect.
And if truth be told, the man couldn’t have been more candid. The other ethnic groups and political players who sacrificed a great deal of their resources, time and sweat to work for the victory of the President-elect will turn against him should he ignore them for a region that did not lift a finger to help him win the election. The President-elect knows, more than anybody else, the possible implication of such action. Rather than stir the hornets nest and rock the boat of his infant administration in the name of trying to keep his friend happy, he would rather toe the honourable path of fair play and equity. Somewhere down the line, you can trust that the president-elect would find a way to compensate his friend and the aggrieved voices from the south –east.
– WALE LAWAL
(08037209290)
