Onyedika Agbedo
Two months ahead of the inauguration of the Ninth National Assembly, the race for the position of Senate President has started in earnest with virtually all the geo-political zones in the country angling for the plum job.
This is even as Sunday Sun findings revealed that despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s pledge not to interfere in the emergence of the new leadership of the Ninth Assembly, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has started to work hard behind the scene to ensure that the party avoids the pitfalls of 2015, where it had the majority seats in the National Assembly, but could not enthrone its preferred choices for the leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. For the Senate, part of the party’s strategy, it was gathered, includes backing any of the candidates that enjoy the overwhelm- ing support of his colleagues, but whose capacity to steer the affairs of the Red Chamber and loyalty to the party are not in question. It was also learnt that the party is ready to key into President Buhari’s pledge to run an inclusive government in his second term with its choice for the position. Against this back- drop, many analysts believe that the race is now between Senators Ahmed Lawan (Yobe Southeast); Ali Ndume (Nasarawa West, North- Northeast). They also North, Northeast); Orji (Borno South, North- central); and Danjuma believe that the ruling Uzor Kalu (Abia North, east); Abdullahi Adamu Goje (Gombe Central, party and its leadership would be getting iv right if the mantle of the Sen- ate leadership falls on the shoulders of any of the five.
Ahmed Lawan
The Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan is returning to the upper legislative chamber as a highly ranked APC senator with robust legislative experience. He represents Yobe North Senatorial District of Yobe State. Lawan first became a lawmaker in 1999 when he was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He was re- elected in 2003. He con- tested for the Senate in 2007 and was elected to represent Yobe North Senatorial District, a position he has held since then. He has chaired many committees both at the lower chamber and in the Senate, just as he has moved many motions and sponsored many bills. His legislative experience is a huge plus for him.
Besides, the power equation in the APC also favours him. ANPP is one of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC. The others are the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The CPC bloc has the presidency; the ACN bloc has the vice president, while the ANPP bloc appear not to have been accommodated enough in the scheme of things in the party in the last four years. Lawan is the highest public official from the defunct ANPP and the bloc is pushing hard to have him elected for the position.
Many APC faithful also see him as a loyal party man. The fact that he has also remained in the op- position since 1999 distinguishes him as an ideolog- ical politician. Also counting for him is that when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defectors to the APC led by Dr Bukola Saraki hijacked the con- trol of the National Assembly in 2015, Lawan, who was initially tipped for the position of Senate Presi- dent before a ‘coup’, weathered the storm with his party. He was later compensated with the position of Senate Leader. And after APC lost 14 senators in 2018, with Saraki announcing his exit shortly after, he showcased his leadership skills by galvanizing the remaining APC senators to defend the party at all times. He effectively blocked numerous anti- presidency legislations initiated and driven by the opposition.
Lawan also parades a strong academic record. He is a graduate of the University of Maiduguri where he studied Geography. He holds higher degrees, including 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.
Orji Uzor Kalu
A former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu is another strong contender for the position. He was elected to represent Abia North Senatorial District during the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections. Although he will be a first timer in the upper legislative chamber, he had a robust legislative experience in the NASS be- tween 1992 and 1993 when he represented his constituency in the House of Representatives. He is by that virtue a ranking lawmaker and is qualified for the job.
Besides, Kalu’s portfolio as a bridge builder in the country is one of the factors that will go in his favour ahead of the other contenders. His political affiliations cut across the length and breadth of the country. His contributions to the APC since joining the party have been remarkable. He traveled to all the nooks and crannies of the country to sell the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari well before he formally declared to re-contest the presidency. The votes secured by the president in Kalu’s Abia State in particular and the Southeast in general testify to the fact that his efforts were not in vain.
A chieftain of the APC and the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, put this in perspective in a recent interview with Sunday Sun when he stated: “Mr President had made inroad in the South and the people appreciated it. In Enugu, for instance, he had 14,000 votes in 2015. This year, he has 54,000. In Ebonyi, he had about 17,000. This year, he has over 80,000. In Imo, he had 18 per cent in total votes in 2015. Today, he has more than 25 per cent. In Abia, he had more than 25 per cent. But in 2015, he had only three per cent.”
The former governor also stands out as a successful entrepreneur with vast interests in aviation, banking and finance, merchandising, publishing and maritime. Thus, he has efficiently managed men and materials. So, having him at the helm of affairs in the Senate will be an added advantage for the ruling party in its quest for prudence in managing the resources of the country.
Kalu also parades sterling academic records. He attended the University of Maiduguri where he studied Political Science. He also has a degree from the Abia State University, a Certificate in Business Administration from Harvard University and honorary doctorates from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as well as universities of Maiduguri and Abia State. He became the youngest Nigerian to receive the National Merit Award from former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, at the age of 26 in 1986.
Besides these personal credentials, the calls for the readjustment of the power sharing arrangement in the country might work in his favour. For instance, the Southeast is laying strong claims to the position of the Senate President in the next dispensation. It could be recalled that the APC had ceded the position to the zone in 2015, but un- fortunately, the region could not produce a senator not to talk of a ranking one. But after the 2019 elections, the zone produced three senators among them Kalu, Benjamin Uwajumogu and Rochas Okorocha. So, those pushing for the Southeast to produce the Senate President expect that the party would revert to the 2015 zoning arrangement as a reward for the success of the party in the Southeast in the last election.
Also, a former Special Adviser, Political Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, supports this line of thought. “We need as of today, if my opinion matters; I want the Senate Presidency to go to the South. The president is from the North; the vice president is from the South. I want the Senate President to go to the South, preferably to the South-south, or Southeast,” he said in a recent interview with The Sun.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, also in a recent interview, threw his weight behind the quest. “We have APC legislators now that are ranking from the Southeast unlike the former time. We have those that are ranking now. We have Ben Uwajumogu; he is now a two-term Senator. He is coming back from the ruling party. We have Dr Orji Uzor Kalu. Orji Uzor Kalu was a Federal Assembly legislator during the military regime; it’s counted because it was a National Assembly. So, he has got some ranking, his ranking from the House of Reps is counting for him. Therefore, Orji Uzor Kalu is also qualified,” Ngige said.
If the APC chooses to yield to the demand to cede the position to the Southeast, Kalu’s chances will be unassailable.
Ali Ndume
Ali Ndume (Borno South) is one of the high-rank- ing senators believed to be eyeing the position. In 2015, he revealed that he wanted to take the position, but shelved the ambition as soon as Senate President Bukola Saraki emerged.
“I wanted to be the president of the Senate at one time, but we cannot have two presidents in the Sen- ate at the same time and that is why you see that as soon as we have a senate president, I stood by him 100 per cent,” he said.
Ndume also boasts enormous legislative experience. He was elected to represent the Chibok/Dam- boa/Gwoza Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives on the platform of ANPP in 2003, a position he occupied till 2011. He creditably served as Minority Leader in the Sixth Assembly in 2007. He was elected to the Senate in 2011 and will be returning to the upper chamber as a three-term senator.
Already, Borno State elders under the platform of Concerned Citizens of Borno have recommended him for the position. Speaking on behalf of the el- ders at a press briefing, recently, Dauda Danladi, leader of the group and Nigeria’s former ambassador to Pakistan, said Ndume should be considered for the position being a loyal member of the APC and one who possesses the qualities and experience to lead the Senate. “It is in this regard that we the Concerned Citizens of Borno are coming forward to urge Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume to contest for the office of the president of the senate in the 9th National Assembly ,” Danladi said.
Nevertheless, if he declares to run, some party faithful might question his loyalty, having ditched the ANPP in 2010 due to some irreconcilable differences with the party’s leadership in the state. Ndume was also one of the senators that pitched tent with Dr Bukola Saraki after his emergence as Senate President against the wish of the party. He served as Senate Majority leader from June 2015 until January 2017 when the APC senators impeached him. But he is a deft politician and as such could easily walk over these seen obstacles.
Abdullahi Adamu
A former governor of Nasarawa State from 1999 to 2007, Senator Abdullahi Adamu represents Nasarawa West Senatorial District in the Senate. He is also returning to the upper legislative chamber for the third term having made his debut in 2007. He has acquired vast legislative experience and might be picked for the job. He is from the North Central zone, which is also laying strong claims to the position based on the contributions to the success of the party in the last elections. Although he is a PDP defector, he has since warmed himself into the hearts of the APC faithful with the way he squared off with Senate President Bukola Saraki after he led 14 other APC senators out of the party last year. If there is any iota of truth in the rumour that for- mer governors in the Senate are rooting for one of their own to emerge as Senate President, he is one of those to watch.
Danjuma Goje
Danjuma Goje was a two-term governor of Gombe State (2003 to 2011). He has been representing Gombe Central Senatorial District in the Sen- ate since 2011. He is one of the PDP chieftains that defected to the APC in 2014, which effectively gave the APC the edge in the 2015 general election. Goje, who currently chairs the Senate Committee on Appropriation, chose to stick with the APC during the realignment of forces that plummeted the ranks of the APC in the Senate ahead of the 2019 general election. It’s now clear he had the right permutation as the APC clinically defeated the PDP in Gombe State. Goje has not shown interest in the race in any way. But just like Adamu, he might be a top con- tender if former governors in the Senate insist on having their way.