APC, PDP SENATE CAUCUSES TO SHARE C’TTEE CHAIRMANSHIP POSTS EQUALLY

There seems to be no end in sight on the crisis of confidence rocking the Senate, as a fresh discovery  showed that the amended Senate Standing Rules 2015 prescribes equal committee chairmanship positions for each of the six geo-political zones of the country.
This provision, which is found in Section 3(iv) of the2015 Senate Standing Orders, does not exist in 2011 edition used during the seventh Senate. This implies that the zones controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will chair almost the same number of committees in this eighth Senate with those controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The section provides that “the appointment of senators as chairmen and members of committees shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the six geo-political zones of the country and there shall be no predominance of senators from a few geo-political zones.”
This new development is a deviation from the hitherto existing tradition in the Senate in which chairmanships of two committees - Public Accounts and Ethics and Privileges - were the only two committees reserved for the opposition.
But this new development has changed the status quo in which the opposition existed at the mercy of the majority party. The Senate president would hitherto give the headships of both committees to his favourites among the opposition senators.
In the seventh Senate for instance, Senator Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), who was one of the senators loyal to Mark, headed the Public Accounts Committee while Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo North) was given the chairmanship of Ethics and Privileges’ Committee because of the affinity of Labour Party (LP) with PDP at the time. Akinyelure was then a member of LP.
However, Mark deviated a little bit from the norm by conceding three more committee chairmanships to the opposition. The committees were Science and Technology, Capital Market and Privatisation chaired by Senators Ajayi Borrofice (Ondo North), Ayo Adeseun (Oyo Central) and Gbenga Obadara (Ogun Central) respectively.
There are currently 57 standing committees in the Senate. During the Seventh Senate when committees were not chaired on the basis of geo-political zones but at the discretion of the Selection Committee chaired by the then Senate President, David Mark, the positions were unevenly distributed as the then PDP caucus proudly made away with about 50 committee chairmanships.
The breakdown as cross-checked monday showed that South-south produced 14 committee chairmen which was the highest among the existing six zones. This was followed by North-central which produced 10, South-east (10); North-west (10); North-east (7) and South-west (4).
But going by Section 3(iv) of the 2015 Senate Standing Rules, 57 committee chairmanships equally shared on the basis of six geo-political zones will imply that each zone will produce nine committee chairmen which will amount to 54 while the remaining three slots will be allotted at the Senate President’s discretion.
This development which appears not to be in the consciousness of members of Senate Unity Forum yet is likely to herald another round of crisis within the fold of the APC, which is yet to overcome the crisis caused by the emergence of Saraki as Senate President on June 9 in contrast to the party’s wish.
Both the party leadership and the Senate Unity Forum, which promoted the aspiration of Lawan for Senate Presidency, had been more pained that the opposition PDP produced Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President. The party believes the office exclusively belongs to APC which possesses the majority status in the eight Senate.
Further rejection of Lawan as Senate Leader by his zonal caucus as opposed to the recommendation of the party leadership has further pitted both factions of APC in the Senate against each other.
The latest cold war in the Senate was orchestrated by the petition written by the Unity Forum to the Inspector General of Police (IG), Solomon Arase, alleging that some sections of the 2015 Senate rules had been forged by certain senators from the PDP.
The contention was that the Senate Standing Rules 2015 was secretly produced with an amendment which replaced the provision that provided for the election of presiding officers of the Senate using open ballot with secret ballot.
Whereas the dust generated by the petition is yet to settle, the situation may be aggravated when it dawns on members of the Unity Forum that the committee chairmanships will be shared equally with their PDP counterparts on zonal basis.
This is moreso that Lawan’s camp which lost out in the recent power game which produced Saraki and Ekweremadu had hoped to be compensated by committee chairmanships when the selection will eventually be done. The Senate will resume from its three-week break on July 21.