Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Nigerian National Assembly is a composition of 109 Senators that belong to what is tagged red chamber and 360 House of Representatives also known as green chamber.
These two chambers make up the Nigerian legislative arm of Government at National level.
This arm was usually dominated by two Political parties since the return of Democracy in 1999.
This time around the 10th Senate which is the upper chamber of the national Assembly has 43 members from the seven opposition Political Parties that include the main opposition People’s Democratic Party that has 29 seats , Labour party 6 New Nigeria People’s Party 2, Social Democratic Party 2 ,All Progressives Grand Alliance and Young Progressives Party have one each.
Another uniqueness of the tenth Assembly is at the House of Representatives as the ruling Party APC failed to have the majority at lower chamber unlike in the 8th and 9th Assemblies.
Seven opposition parties have 280 members out of 360 . That means if these parties coordinated themselves they could produce the leadership of the House of Representatives.
The leadership tussle and the need for promoting National Unity
In an analysis recently published by one of the Nigerian leading news papers THIS DAY titled “10th Senate presidency : Aspirants Move Battle to the Opposition Senators Camp”
This writer deeply digested the underground move by different camps in the National Assembly ahead of selecting the new leaders of the legislative arm.
The leadership and members of a strong coalition made up of the 43 opposition Senators elected, are now the beautiful brides of the aspirants for the position of the Senate Presidency.
Ranking senators of the All Progressives Congress who are aspiring to lead the 10th Senate are now looking beyond the zoning arrangements being planned by the leadership of their party.
They are now focussing their attention on the 43 members of the opposition political parties who have vowed to vote as a team during the inauguration of the 10th Senate by June, this year.
Already, the Peoples Democratic Party had formed a coalition with other opposition political parties, which had secured 12 seats in the forthcoming 10th National Assembly.
Other minority parties are, the Labour Party (LP), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Young Progressive Party (YPP).
The contenders for the next Senate President :
are Senator Sani Musa (North Central); Jibrin Barau (North West); Orji Kalu (South East); GodsWill Akpabio (South South); Osita Izunaso (South-East); Peter Ndubueze (South-East); Abdul’Aziz Yari (North-West); Ahmad Lawan (North East); Ali Ndume (North-East); David Umahi (South-East) and Adams Oshiomhole (South-South).
Some leaders of the opposition parties coalition told THISDAY on condition of anonymity that their members would support a strong APC Senator elect from the Southern part of the country as Senate President and a North Central Senator as the Deputy.
A Senator elect from the North East geopolitical zone also confided in THIS DAY that their decision was based on equity, fairness, justice and peaceful coexistence of Nigeria.
According to him, only an insensitive leader will notice the obvious tension in the land and would choose to ignore it for selfish interest.
The Senator elect who is returning to the red chamber for the second term said the mood of the nation is that a Christian from the southern part of the country should be the Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.
The North East Senator elect further told THIS DAY on condition of anonymity that members of the minority caucus across political party lines have agreed to ensure good governance and would not allow the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to give any excuse for non performance.
“We are not going to rock the boat by producing the presiding officers from the minority caucus. We would abide by the global legislative convention by supporting the best aspirant from the majority bloc. We have also agreed that the best aspirant from the South-East geopolitical zone with the best credentials will be supported to become the Senate President. We have equally agreed that we would ensure the emergence of a North Central Senator with outstanding records of good performance, as the deputy Senate President The Senator said.
He added that the coalition started meeting since penultimate week and would wrap up their deal as soon as the leadership of the party announced the zoning arrangements for the presiding officers positions in the 10th National Assembly.
A ranking opposition Senator currently representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi, corroborated the claims of the North East Senator in a telephone interview with THISDAY.
Fadahunsi, a retired deputy comptroller general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said the PDP senators elected were united in their resolve to contribute their quota to good governance in the incoming administration.
The move in the lower chamber
Members elected to the House of Representatives are also launching another alliance soon, ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly in June.
According to PUNCH news Paper the group of members elected who were drawn from across party lines, would be known as ‘The 10th Assembly Path finders.’
The Pathfinders group would be the third coalition or alliance by members elected of the 10th House towards the election of leaders for the legislative chamber, especially the presiding officers ; Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
Punch said it obtained a copy of the agenda of the new group, which is billed for launch soon after the National Assembly resumes from Easter and Ramadan break on Tuesday.
The mission statement of The 10th Assembly Pathfinders is “to build a strong, independent, respectable parliament that will work for Nigerians and make Nigeria more stable, peaceful, and prosperous” The document indicated.
The document partly read, “We are a group of parliamentarians drawn across political party lines for the purpose of building a network of nation builders who will use the platform of the legislature to propose, support, and promote legislative activities .
Promote national unity, good governance, responsible leadership, and prosperity of all parts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; promote healthy conversation, debates, and collaboration for national development; ensure equity, fairness, competence, and justice in the allocation of offices, responsibilities, resources, and powers in the 10th House of Representatives; ensure inclusiveness in the leadership composition of the 10th House of Representatives; and harness the social, economic and professional expertise of members of the 10th House of Representatives to propose bills, motions and advocacy for national development.” The Agenda stated.
Meanwhile, indications have emerged that the coalition of minority parties may suffer a setback as some of the leaders of the movement were said to have openly supported an aspirant on the platform of the APC.
A ranking member of the House, who was at the Abuja meeting, said the members elected later realized that the agenda of the coalition might be different from what the conveners claimed.
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