Niger senator hopeful of balancing
Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th Assembly, National Vice Chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has warned against emergence of a Muslim -Muslim Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Lukman, in a statement titled “APC and Tasks of Negotiating 10th NASS Leadership,” called on the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to be more aggressive in driving the process of negotiating leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
The Kaduna-born politician said his position was informed by the deluge of aspirants eyeing the two presiding seats, which he noted if left unregulated, could throw up unexpected people in the leadership of the federal legislature.
He warned that emergence of same faith leadership might destroy electoral viability of the ruling party in future elections. Calling on stakeholders to take a cue from the power sharing formula adopted in 1999 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo held sway, Lukman opposed ongoing clamour to cede the Senate presidency to his North West geo-political zone.
His words: “As a party, it would seem that APC has relapsed to 2015 mode of allowing elected National Assembly members to proceed with the business of constituting leadership of the 10th National Assembly in an unregulated manner.
“This is very risky, not just for APC, but for the country. Given that as a party, we contested the 2023 elections with a Muslim-Muslim ticket of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Sen. Kashim Shettima, unregulated contest for leadership of the 10th National Assembly could produce another Muslim as Senate President.”
“In fact, there is also the high probability that a Muslim could also emerge as Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.”
“At a time when irrationality has become overbearingly manifest in the politics of the country, it is quite frustrating for many members of the APC NWC that as leaders mandated to provide leadership in managing affairs of the party, we have become onlookers in matters that we should be directing. This must be urgently corrected.”
HOWEVER, the senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa, has expressed hope that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the governing party would address the imbalance posed by the Muslim-Muslim ticket for the concluded presidential election in the zoning formula for election of presiding officers for the 10th National Assembly
The Niger lawmaker, who made the submission while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja, reiterated that the same faith ticket adopted by the party during the presidential poll must be balanced at the configuration of leadership of the next National Assembly for unity of the country.
He said there was no office deserving to be zoned to the North Central than that of the Senate President. Musa added that as a loyalist, and having had an interaction with the party leadership before the governorship and House of Assembly elections at the Presidential Villa, APC national chair, Adamu, requested all to keep “our intentions until when the party decides to release the zoning formula.”
