Underground consultations and political horse-trading to determine who becomes the next senate President have begun immediately INEC issued certificates of return to winners of last February’s National Assembly polls
With the APC once again controlling majority seats in the upper legislature, the party’s leadership looks set to play a key role in those to emerge as presiding officers.
Insiders say zoning and political balancing will be key determinants of who gets what in the senate
Of the 109 seats, the All Progressives Congress has the majority of 56 seats, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party trails with 33, while Labour Party comes a distant third with 8 seats.
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SDP and NNPP secured two seats each while APGA and YPP managed to get one seat each.
It is probably the most politically diverse setup in the senate in recent times.
The office of the senate president is no doubt the most prized of all and a simple majority of 55 votes is all that is needed
With the president-elect from the South West region and the Vice President-elect from the North East, ranking members from the South East are already pushing for the Senate Presidency.
Orji Uzor Kalu representing Abia North has made no pretensions about his interest in the exalted seat. But there could be some problems associated with that ambition.
While the argument for the South East to get the 3rd most powerful political office looks legitimate, there may be other political considerations that could challenge that assumption
For instance, of the 6 geo-political zones, the APC was roundly beaten by the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party.
On the other hand, the APC performed creditably in the south-south region, winning the presidential election in Rivers and also winning the governorship in Cross River state.
This is perhaps why ranking senators from the south are keenly lobbying for the office of the Senate President with Godswill Akpabio believed to be working intensely to clinch it
The outgoing Senate President, Ahmad Lawan is also not completely ruled out as well.
Sources suggest he is pushing for a second term if the APC decides to ditch its zoning arrangement.
Apart from the positions of the Senate and Deputy senate president, other positions to be filled at the inauguration of the 10th senate include the majority leader and deputy majority leader, the chief whip and deputy chief whip, the minority leader and deputy minority leader as well as minority whip and his deputy.
As the majority group in the senate, the APC will have to produce most of the
candidates to be elected into the presiding offices apart from the minority positions, which naturally will be between the PDP and the other political parties
However, to become a presiding officer, the senate rules state that a senator must not be a first timer
So far, 30 serving senators will be making their way back along with those who have served in the past.
While the sharing of political positions may be what is dominating the attention of the elected senators, what is more, important is whether the character of the 10th senate will be markedly different from that of the Lawan-led senate which was widely perceived to be a rubber stamp for the executive.
(Editor: Anoyoyo Ogiagboviogie)
