• Coalition wants seat zoned to Southsouth
Senator Danladi Sankara (Jigawa Northwest) and former Senator Mas’ud El-Jibril (Kano South) have drummed up support for Barau Jibrin to become senate president of the 10th Assembly.
Jibrin, according to Sankara, deserves to lead the senate because he is a high ranking senator with rich experience garnered over the years.
“To this end, Jibrin is the most versatile to occupy the seat of the senate chairman. If Jibrin mounts the seat, he will deploy his experience to give the senate a robust leadership through human-oriented legislation that will add value to governance,” Sankara said.
Sankara reiterated that if the senate leadership is zoned to the Northwest, Senator Jibrin is qualified to occupy the seat ‘because he will offer purposeful leadership that would be beneficial to the country and Nigerians’.
El-Jibril noted that Jibrin is hard working while commanding a lot of respect from his colleagues. “I am sure that whatever position Jibrin would hold in this country, he would not been found wanting because he is transparent and has numerous friends and admirers. More so, he is a grassroots politician,” he said.
Coalition for Good Governance and Economic Justice in Africa has said the Senate presidency in the 10th National Assembly should be zoned to the Southsouth.
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The Convener, Kassim Afegbua, made the call at a news conference yesterday in Abuja. According to him, the principle of equitable representation and social justice should be sustained to promote the doctrine of politics of inclusion.
Afegbua noted that the constitution gave voice and legal force to the spirit and ideal of politics of inclusion, by enshrining the federal character principle.
He said: “At this time, more than any other time in our nation’s history, we believe she must honour this ideal to preserve her unity and ensure stability. The last elections raised the temperature of the country with ethnicity and religion becoming worrying sources of strife.
“It is incumbent upon the next administration to take deliberate steps to assuage the fears of many and re-affirm its own commitment to fairness, social justice and equitable distribution of power among geopolitical zones.”
Afegbua called on the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, to back the selection of the senate president from the Southsouth. This, he said, would be an opportunity to balance ethnic, regional and religious concerns.
“The need for balancing that process is more compelling now in view of our present and shared commitment. It is the biggest indicator of every president and party’s sensitivity to national feelings, grievances and inclination,” he added.