Following the successful election of its President, ethnic and religious prejudices have again reared their ugly heads as the upper house of assembly prepares to elect its principal officers.
The Majority and Minority leadership position in the Senate appear to be the most attractive out of the eight positions that are up for grabs. The others are appointments as Chairmen of various committees referred to as ‘Grade A’.
As is expected, high level lobbying has commenced and the leadership of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, is not leaving anything to chance. The party has begun consultations on who should occupy the office of the majority leader, even as they face difficulties surmounting the ethno-religious and regional sentiments growing among members.
While senators in the North are asking that the majority leader’s position go to the North; having lost out in the position of the Senate President, which went to the South South, Godswill Akpabio, who is a Christian, they argue that this office therefore, should go to the Northern Muslim.
But those in opposition of a Northern Muslim for the office of the majority leader, are of the opinion that having a Christian /Christian leadership in the Senate will balance and calm the tension generated by the Muslim/Muslim presidency in Aso Rock.
According to the rule in the Senate, the majority leader shall emerge from the party with the most number of senators. At the Senate, there are 109 senators; 59 of whom are from the APC while the other 50 are share among all the other parties. This, therefore, means the majority lader will be a senator from the ruling party.
The duties of the majority leader include managing the business of the Senate, the legislative schedule of the chamber as well as liaising with committee chairmen and other functionaries of the Senate.
Given the functions required of the office of the Majority leader and the Minority leader, who is expected to act in the absence of his principal, the senators wanted experienced hands to take up the offices. They claim that senators who have been in the senate for much longer should take up the positions considering that most members of the newly inaugurated 10the National Assembly are new and first timers.
With this, it has further narrowed down the number of contenders for the posts. Of the three top most contenders to fill the offices are; former leader during the 8th Senate, Nohammed Ali Ndume and Opeyemi Bamidele representing Ekiti State . He has been in the Chamber since 2019, after serving in the House of Representative.
Which way the pendulum swings is anyone’s guess. It is expected that just like in the election of the President and Speaker of the Senate and House of Assembly and their deputies, where the presidency influenced the result, that similar line will be toed in this case.
