By Henry Umoru
ABUJA – AHEAD of the inauguration of the 9th Senate and the emergence of the presiding officers, serious horse trading and intrigues have continued to play out, as Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, Senator Barau Jibrin, APC, Kano North, Friday threw his weight behind the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan as the next Senate President.
Ahmad-Lawan
According to Jibrin, Senator Ahmed Lawan ( APC Yobe North) is the most experienced Senator and that the position should be zoned to the North East.
Senator Barau Jibrin in a statement he personally signed, stressed the need for the nation’s parliament to follow established international parliamentary norms to elect Nigeria’s next senate president, stressing that presiding officers of parliaments all over the world are elected based on experience.
The Senator who noted that the North East has the highest ranking senator in the 9th Senate and that the geopolitical zone should not be denied their rights by taking the position away to another zone, said:” It is now a golden opportunity for all and sundry to facilitate the election of the Senate President using the template of the established international parliamentary practice.
“In parliaments all over the world, presiding officers of Assemblies are elected based on their experiences as leaders of the caucuses of the various assemblies.
“Thus, when a party secures a majority after a general election into an assembly, the leader of the caucus of such a party in the assembly transforms to be the President or Speaker of such an assembly in a process devoid of any rancour.
“The practice is adopted because of the precept of the more you stay in the assembly, the more experienced you are.”
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He pointedly declared that the most experienced senator in the coming 9th Senate from the North East is Ahmad Lawan, who he said, had been in the federal parliament since 1999, adding, “The president of the 9th Senate should be Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe State as he is the leader of the APC Caucus in the current 8th Senate.
“The parliament as a unique arm of government all over the world thrives on experienced parliamentarians providing leadership in order to give purposeful direction to the other arms of government and the society at large.”