Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation, Barau Jibrin, who is representing Kano North District, is being backed by a lot of supporters and groups to become the Senate President of the 10th Assembly.
The Forum of Northern Nigeria Ex-Councillors is one of the major groups drumming support for Jibrin. The Forum has held a conference in Kaduna, where it endorsed Jibrin’s candidacy for the senate presidency.
“We have unanimously agreed to support Sen Jibrin to lead the 10th National Assembly as chairman and president of the senate, looking at his vast National Assembly experience,” the forum said.
Chairman of the Northern Nigeria Ex-Councillors, Hon. Adamu Saleh Muhammad Kafin Malamai, while briefing journalists on the outcome of the forum’s meeting, said they decided to support Senator Barau Jibrin due to his “unprecedented achievements and unmatchable records, in terms of bills and motions, as well as oversight functions.”
Malamai explained that Senator Jibrin, who was re-elected overwhelmingly on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on February 25, is versatile and well experienced, apart from being the longest serving senator among all others seeking to be the National Assembly head in the incoming Tinubu administration.
The Northern ex-councillors argued that Southwest has the presidency, Northeast has vice president and North Central has national chairman of the party, so the senate president should come from the northwest.
“We want to draw the attention of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party the All Progressives Congress (APC), the president-elect and vice president-elect that, we as bonafide, obedient and law-abiding members of the APC, want to unequivocally express our resolve to support Sen Barau Jibrin as the president of the senate of the 10th National Assembly, Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
“We wish that our mission to support the aspiration of Sen Jibrin would be supported by the NWC of the APC and all other critical stakeholders concerned,” Malamai said.
The National Alliance for Legislation and Good Governance (NALGG) has also asked the ruling APC to zone the senate presidency of the 10th National Assembly to Northwest and particularly give it to Senator Barau Jibrin.
Speaking at a press conference in Kano, Convener of the group, Muhammad Auwal and Secretary, Dr Mujitapha Bello, noted that “making Jibrin senate president would pave way for political expediency for the ruling party.”
NALGG argued that Senator Jibrin’s Northwest geopolitical zone contributed 27.3% of the entire North’s 38.9% votes that APC’s Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu garnered to win the presidency in the 2023 general election.
“We are making a case for the region, in the spirit of equity, balance and political fairness.
“Let the ruling party cede the senate presidency to the Northwest. This will spur the region (Northwest) to to lend more their unwavering support for the party in all political contestations and future elections,” Convener of NALGG Muhammad Auwal said.
Auwal said: “Northern Nigeria contributed the most votes, which ensured the victory of Asiwaju and APC.
“The North gave APC 38.9%. Of that figure, Northwest alone gave 27.3%, to ensure victory at the polls, stamping its authority as a power block in any political contest in the country.
“In Northwest, Kano State alone gave the APC and Asiwaju, the single highest figure in the presidential election, which sealed his victory.
“We call on the APC, the president-elect and other stakeholders to do a comprehensive stocktaking and reflect on the immense contribution that the Northwest made in ensuring victory for the party.
“The party should zone the presidency of the senate to Northwest and further micro-zone it to Kano State.
“The party should also note that the highest ranking senator in the entire region now is Senator Barau Jibrin, who has the competence, capacity and experience to be the next president of the senate.”
Another chieftain of the APC, Engr. Mu’azu Dansarauniya, has also called on the leadership of the APC to zone the slot of the senate president to Kano State.
Dansarauniya, a former Kano state commissioner for Works and Infrastructural Development, told newsmen that zoning the slot to Kano will create a stronger base for the party in the region in the face of opposition parties wrestling to take control.
“It is only democratic for the party’s leadership to ensure that the slot for the Senate presidency comes to the northwest and to Kano, the political heartbeat of the north.
“Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu now has only one APC senator from Kano State and any mistake of not making him (Jibrin) the Senate president will affect the strength and control of the region by the party.
“I want to call on APC leaders and the president-elect to look at political distributions as well as the contribution of APC members to his success and also to consider the strategic nature of Northwestern Nigeria in terms of the outcome, not to leave this place without a key principal leadership in Nigeria that will physically galvanise support for us in the region.
“We have done very well in this presidential election. We have contributed the most votes. So you see, even in terms of reward and recognition, we have the right to say we need to have the senate presidency.
“I am calling on our leaders to look at what the president (Tinubu) has outlined as a government of national competence, and when we look at competence, we will not go beyond our senatorial presentation in Kano in the person of Sen Barau Jibril” he stated.