Newly elected senators are warming up to join in the battle for the leadership of the incoming Senate, notwithstanding the rules of the game that shut them out.
It was learnt that the new senators, ahead of the inauguration of the Eighth Senate on June 4, had begun lobbying for the abolishment of the Senate Standing Orders (2011, as amended), known as the ranking rule that precludes them from running for legislative leadership positions.
Under the ranking rule, only re-elected lawmakers can vie for the positions such as Senate President, Deputy President, Majority Leader, Deputy Majority, Chief Whip, Minority Leader and Deputy Minority Leader, among others.
However, New Telegraph learnt that some new senators have intensified lobbying of party stakeholders to support the abrogation of the rule so that they could be elected as principal officers when the new Senate is inaugurated.
Chapter 2 of the Senate rules specifically clarified the status of senators in the chamber. Rule 2 states that in electing presiding officers and other officers, the following order shall apply: (i) senators returning based on number of times re-elected; (ii) senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; (iii) senators elected as or the first time.
Consequently, in the previous as well as the current Senate, only senators who have been returned, based on the number of times re-elected, were usually elected into the leadership positions.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), which is going to enjoy a simple majority in the Senate, is therefore expected to fill the positions of Senate President; Deputy Senate President, Senate Majority Leader; Chief Whip, Deputy Majority Leader and Deputy Chief Whip.
Already, the North-Central and the North-East are jostling for the Senate presidency while the Deputy Senate President slot is expected to be filled by the South-West.
The South-South and the South-East slots in the leadership of the Senate are vacant because there is no ranking senator from either of the zones at the moment to take any of these major slots.
The North-West, which has many ranking senators, is expected to fill the slot of majority leader. The leadership of the APC had zoned the Senate presidency to the South- East, but the zone did not produce anybody from the party to occupy the position, thereby costing the region this ample opportunity to play a major role in the next political dispensation.
Also, the South-South did not re-elect any incumbent member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, who would have been elected as the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC. Edo North, which elected a new person to the Senate, cannot fill any of these principal offices, if the ranking rule is upheld in the Eighth Senate.
Source: Daily Trust
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