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Tag: Ninth Senate

  • Buhari to APC senators-elect: Shun erroneous path of 8th Senate

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday night advised senators-elect on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to avoid the erroneous path of 8th Senate.

    He gave the advice while hosting the APC senators-elect and some state governors to a dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The President regretted some wrong actions and decisions of the 8th National Assembly.

    He specifically recalled the deliberate and persistent delay in passing the nation’s annual budget by the National Assembly.

    Urging the in-coming 9th National Assembly to do things differently from the outgoing 8th Senate, he said that it will enable his administration achieve its target of transforming the nation.

    He said “This is my fifth and last time of standing for an election – for that reason I’ll like to leave something behind.

    “And what I want to leave cannot be successfully done without your support.

    “So, that is why I’m appealing for your support. What happened in the last senate and so on is regrettable because I still feel it shouldn’t take seven months to pass a budget. You have a very, very serious job ahead of you.

    “So, what I’m appealing is that any major decision you are going to take please reflect more on the country than yourself as a person – what effect will it have on the country,’’ he said.

    Promising to work and partner with the 9th national assembly in promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in the country, the president thanked the governors and senators-elect for their support and understanding.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the dinner, the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, said the whole purpose of the event was to bond the new and old senators, to establish a new relationship between the executive and the legislature.

    He said: “The system talks about the separation of powers between the executive and legislature and the two must handshake for things to happen.

    “And when you have a president that is determined to drive changes, fundamental changes that will affect our habits, our life style, review the economy, deal with the security situation, fight corruption as fiercely as he is trying to do, he will need a very supportive legislative arm of government.

    “And happily, the Nigerian people have given us the number in the legislative arm of government.

    “All we have agreed today is that we will use these numbers as a functioning whole to determine the leadership of the senate in a way that we are not going to go to the floor of the senate and allow the opposition dictate who becomes the senate president.

    “Because, we have comfortable majority to drive that, what we have to do is to manage that majority.’’

    Also speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong said: “What the president has done today, I think is the right step in the right direction.

    “The last time we did not have the opportunity of this politics but today, Mr. President invited us. Because, we are governors and we also dialogue with our senators.

    “Mr President said in order to avoid rancor, let me lay the way forward and we are very happy he has laid the way forward and because of that we are all going to work towards achieving the desire of Mr President for the good of this country.’’ he said

    On his part, Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari said “We all remembered what happened at the last assembly, and Mr. President through the national chairman said that we should work hand in hand to ensure that we come out as one party.

    “We are assured the President that we are going to give him full cooperation to ensure we boost the Nigerian economy, security and fight against corruption.”

  • Senate Presidency: APC’s endorsement of Lawan unconstitutional – Ndume

    The endorsement of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the positions of Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives, in the 9th National Assembly, may have sparked off a crisis of confidence in the ruling party.

    Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, one of the contenders for the Senate Presidency, on Tuesday described the endorsement APC handed to Lawan as unconstitutional and completely against the spirit of fair play.

    The Borno South Senator told reporters in Abuja that the position of the party on who emerges the Senate President cannot stand as it did not follow due process.

    The National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, was reported to have announced the endorsement of Lawan and Gbajabiamila as candidates of the APC for the posts of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    Ndume said that he consulted widely and was given the go-ahead by party leaders to vie for the position.

    He insisted the Constitution provided the procedure for the election of the Senate President

    For him, the best the party could have done was to zone the slot of Senate President to a geo-political zone and allow the zone to choose their candidate

    Although Ndume said that he was not desperate for the position of Senate President, he assured that he would consult his colleagues on the way forward.

    Read Also: Ndume joins race for Senate President

    Ndume said: “First of all, let me say that the decision by the party to settle for an individual instead of zoning the position to a particular geopolitical zone and also consulting or allowing the senators from that zone to decide who among them they prefer as Senate President, is a surprise.

    “We were surprised on Monday when national chairman of our party told us a decision had been taken to adopt Ahmad Lawan as candidate from the North East for the position of the President of the Senate.

    “The reason why I am shocked and I am sure that is the feeling of my colleagues, is that the constitutional provision for the emergence of the leadership of the Senate is clearly spelt out.

    “Section 51 (a) of the Constitution says that “there shall be a Senate President and Deputy Senate President who shall be elected by members of the House .

    “Section 1 of the Constitution clearly states that “this Constitution is binding on all Nigerians and government agencies.

    “It went further to say that any other law that contravenes the provision of the Constitution is null and void.

    “As a party that is supposed to be democratic and as a government that insists on allowing due process to prevail, this is strange. A candidate of APC normally emerges by one of three means, namely- consensus, indirect elections and direct primaries.

    “As I said, such a decision was taken and we were not given the chance to ask questions. We were not allowed to make comments.

    “The President made his remarks and after that, the national anthem was recited.

    “Even the chosen candidate was not given the chance to thank us or say something about it. Those of us that have indicated interests were not consulted or given the chance to make any comments.

    “I left there with that shock but I slept well notwithstanding. I am one among equal. I am just one among 109 senators. I am not better than them, except for Lawan. I came back and slept well.

    “My wife and children were worried about my feelings. I was even late for the prayers in the morning.

    “I try my best in everything I do and I leave the rest to God. I am now leaving this to God and those who elected me. I am going home to consult with elders who gathered themselves and asked me to contest. I will consult with them and then take a final decision.

    “The party has taken a decision. I ultimately wait on the decision of Almighty God and my colleagues. That is what I will say for now.”

    Asked to explain what he meant by waiting for his colleagues to decide his fate, he said: “You should not be confused. The constitution is clear. It says the Senate shall elect its president and deputy.

    “Like I said, my decision to contest for the position of the Senate President is not personal. Even my colleagues encouraged me to run. Not just the elected ones. They said I should vie for the position. Even then, the party didn’t say it had elected Ahmad Lawan. It only said it has nominated Lawan.

    “The way the leadership of the National Assembly should emerge is clearly stated. Anything contrary to that means it is illegal and it can’t stand. As I said, we wait on God.

    “I am not the one saying this. It is the decision of my colleagues. I am one of those offering himself to contest for the position. I can’t even nominate myself. Someone has to nominate and second me. I can’t say that a candidate has been imposed on us. The decision is now left for my colleagues. If you look at the history of the National Assembly, such decisions have never gone down well.

    “In 1999, Evan Ewerem was imposed. He didn’t last. Wabara was also imposed. It didn’t last. After that, the PDP we have accused of impunity didn’t do this.

    “In 2007, the PDP showed wisdom by zoning the position to North Central. That was what led to the contest between David Mark and George Akume. Because that happened, Mark served for two terms. Mark would have served for another term if PDP had won. He served his tenure peacefully.

  • Ninth Senate: Gumel laments depletion of ranking senators

    A member of the National Assembly, Sen. Abdullahi Gumel, has expressed concern over the decline in the number of Senators returning to the 9th Senate.

    Gumel (APC-Jigawa) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja that the continuous turnover of lawmakers to the National Assembly, particularly the senate had negative implications.

    He said the development had led to loss of experience in legislative activities and waste of the nation’s resources, among others.

    He stressed that the country often spent a lot of money training and retraining lawmakers to master the act of effective lawmaking, only to stay for four years or at most eight years.

    According to him, only few senators have been in the national assembly since the return of democracy in 1999.

    “In developed democracies you see someone spending 30 to 40 years in the parliament, gathering experience and not wasting the nation’s resources.

    “In every set of the legislature the lawmakers undergo capacity building in terms of training within and outside the country and the nation spend a lot to build their capacity.

    “Unfortunately, in every election we lose such talents and we have to start all over again,” he said.

    Gumel hoped that Nigeria would learn from other countries by ensuring that lawmakers won their re-election bids as many times as possible.

    He, however, urged lawmakers to live up to expectations in order to gain the support of their constituents to get re-elected to the national assembly as many times as they wanted.

    On beliefs in some quarters that former governors who are first timers in the national assembly are not novices in matters of legislation, Gumel argued that they might be experienced in governance but not lawmaking.

    The lawmaker pointed out that they still needed extensive training to carry out the mandate of the legislature, which is the second arm of government.

    “The experience they have is executive experience not legislative experience. The legislature is a world of its own and its rudiments must be learnt,” he said.

    Gumel, who lost his reelection bid to return to the senate for the second time, hinted that he was retiring from elective politics.

    “I have paid my dues. I have been in politics for the last 40 years. I am satisfied and proud to say I have been in politics for this length of time.

    “I have reached the pinnacle of my ambition which is to become a senator. I do not have the attraction of being a governor and I will be too old to start seeking to be president.

    So far, only 43 serving senators out of 109, have been cleared to return to the senate.

    With this, not less than 60 new lawmakers will make it to the 9th Senate and it would take them a while, in spite of their experience in various fields of endeavor, to adjust to the legislative environment.

  • We won’t share power with PDP, says Oshiomhole

    National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Monday gave an insight into the 9th National Assembly, saying the party is not ready to share power with the opposition in the National Assembly.

    Oshiomhole said the party will not allow what happened in 2015 to reoccur in 2019 as the party will need a collaborative legislature to provide good governance to the people, adding that the leadership of the Assembly give all committee members critical positions as committee chairmen.

    He said the party leadership will carry out extensive consultation with the President and leadership of the party at all level to arrive at a zoning formula that will be acceptable to all members and the party.

    Details shortly…