Senate Presidency: Options For APC

THERE is excitement in the polity over the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 28 presidential election, which has produced the General Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo presidency.

To consolidate the victory, the APC posted majority seats-64 out of 109- in the Senate.  It also clinched the majority seats in the House of Representatives.  So, Buhari’s party men and women in the National Assembly will be able to watch his back, so to speak.  The fear of impeachment should therefore be non-existent.

But this is not a sure banker.  Validation: Ghali Umar Na’Abba was speaker of the House of Representatives on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when there was friction in their relationship with the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, also of the PDP.

The same thing happened in the Senate under Anyim Pius Anyim as senate president when he (Anyim) was the opposite number of Na’Abba in the Upper House.  Obasanjo was the rabble-rouser, the troublemaker, the agent provocateur, who forced the Legislature to consider the impeachment option.

Nigerians have been treated to so much political drama in the ecology of the Executive-Legislature interactions in the largely-dominated PDP government: the show of presidential might; the high turn-over rate in the leadership of the senate between 1999 and 2003 occasioned by Executive interference and sponsorship; the attempts to coerce the Legislature into genuflecting at the table of the Executive for handouts; the culture of impunity nurtured and promoted by Obasanjo and all.

Now, one is compelled by the outcome of the 2015 general elections to believe that change has come.  It is expected that the APC, with its change mantra, will take the driver’s seat on May 29, this year, to offer different approaches and perspectives to governance and Executive-Legislature relationship; which is why there is the need for the APC to get its rhythm right from the outset, otherwise, it will unwittingly be viewed by Nigerians from the same prism with which they viewed government, governance and Executive-Legislature interactions when the PDP was in the saddle.

Has the APC got it right with its Buhari-Osinbajo presidency?  Good question, but time will tell the rightness or wrongness of the decision to couple Buhari and Osinbajo into, and for an APC presidency.

Second, will the APC get it right with the Presidency of the Senate, which I understand now engages the attention of its National Caucus?  Time again will tell.

But whether or not time will resolve it in favour of the Nigerian people is moot.  This is because, the choice of a senate president lies with the leadership of the APC, not with the Nigerian people.

It is the man, the fait accompli choice that is packaged and delivered on the floor of the Senate on June 2 or thereabouts as the senate president that Nigerians will live with.  That is how it works.

Being the majority party, the APC will use the strength of its number to choose the first among equals in the Senate. Who WILL be the first among equals be?  Again, only time will tell.

But who SHOULD the first among equals be?  I certainly have some ideas and suggestions about who SHOULD emerge from the gallimaufry of elements and tendencies, which are coming in to shape the 8th Senate, to steer the leadership of the Upper Chamber as Senate President. From media reports, two geo-political zones are jostling for the plum position: North Central and Northeast.

Both can justify their demand for the position.  And either of them can, in the long run, get it. The zone, which gets it is not much of an issue to me.

What is critical is who steps in as Senate President in June, this year.   Should the APC decide to cede the position to the North Central, there can be no question as to the preeminence of Senator George Akume in the race for the coveted seat.

I will explain why in a short-while. First, in the pack of APC senators from the North Central zone, he is the first two-term governor (1999 to 2007) to win election into the Senate.  He crossed over from the Benue Government House to the Red Chamber in Abuja.  And he made the ambitious, if not courageous move, to be the senate president.

He, as a PDP senator, contested against the incumbent, Senator David Mark in the 2007 witty and gritty election, despite the gambit by the other camp to deploy the ranking rule against him.

The rule was jettisoned on the floor on the day of the election to allow his participation in the exercise, which he lost, understandably, to Mark, who effortlessly won again, in 2011, this time unopposed.

Akume

By this time, Akume had left the PDP for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on which platform he won re-election and emerged as the Minority Leader in the Upper Chamber.

Second, he is perhaps the only former governor from the North Central zone in the Senate, who is not carrying the baggage of money laundering or corruption prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

His candidature is therefore in apple-pie order within the context of the capacity to fight corruption, which is seemingly manifestly located in a Buhari presidency and which the senate presidency is expected to complement.  Third, he is much more experienced in terms of ranking among his colleagues from the zone.

The fact that he has been the Minority Leader since 2011 gives him a strategic edge.  Having performed creditably especially from the mid-term of his minority leadership, it will only be appropriate to reward a loyal and committed leadership by elevating rather than downgrading him by bringing one of the senators he has been leading to now lead him as senate president.

The best move in the circumstance is to push him up to continue his leadership, this time, of the entire senate.  After all, he has had his eyes on the senate presidency ball since 2007; and by that token, he is assumed to be well prepared for the rigours of the office.

Fourth, and this has to do with his individuality, is the aura of camaraderie, which he exudes.  Akume, a northern Christian, is a jolly good fellow, a fact to which many of his colleagues have, over the years, attested; he is humble, unassuming, respectful and generous.

He does not take anybody for granted and he is always touched by the plight of others, which is the reason he is extremely loved by his people who have continued to vote for him regardless of the political party he belongs.

In the last senatorial election, a Tiv friend of said Akume did not print a single poster for his election as he has become a poster in the minds of his people. One thing that a Buhari presidency can rest assured of is the unflinching loyalty and complementarities of an Akume senate presidency.

Unlike some of his former governor colleagues from the zone who cannot be trusted with power, who can betray their own people, this Tiv son is a rare breed with a very large heart, which predisposes him to quickly and easily forgive his traducers and forget the past.  As far as the North Central is concerned, the cap fits him.

Providence, and nothing else, would have fully manifested and borne its name if another Benue man on the platform of another party takes over from Mark, who is also from Benue.  Like Mark, Akume will deliver if he is given the chance to preside over the affairs of the Upper Chamber.

As I round off, in case the APC leadership decides to cede the position to the Northeast zone instead, my vote will go to no other person than Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (Yobe North).  He will come to the job with a background of public office that is devoid of corruption.

Lawan

A very cerebral legislator (with a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing) and consummate contributor to debates on the floor of the Senate, Lawan has proved to his constituents to be dependable and trustworthy; and this perhaps explains why they have continued to vote for him since 1999.  He was in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 and he has been in the Senate from 2007 till date.  He has just been re-elected for another four years.

Who WILL be the first among equals be?  Again, only time will tell.  But who SHOULD the first among equals be?  I certainly have some ideas and suggestions about who SHOULD emerge from the gallimaufry of elements and tendencies, which are coming in to shape the 8th Senate, to steer the leadership of the Upper Chamber as Senate President. From media reports, two geo-political zones are jostling for the plum position: North Central and Northeast.  Both can justify their demand for the position.  And either of them can, in the long run, get it. The zone, which gets it is not much of an issue to me.  What is critical is who steps in as Senate President in June, this year.  

Like Akume, he has an edge in terms of credibility and absence of corruption baggage, over some former governors from the zone who may be interested in the position of senate president.

I only hope that the APC leadership, guided by Buhari as to how he plans to fight the corruption scourge, will consider very well all the options and settle for the best from either North Central or Northeast zone. Ojeifo is the Editor-in-Chief of The Congresswatch magazine in Abuja.