Ali Ndume, a lawmaker from Borno South Senatorial District, believes the leadership of Nigeria’s yet-to-be-established 10th National Assembly should be open and not restricted to specific geopolitical regions.
Ndume, who appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, also stated that he is waiting for his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to make a decision on the leadership of the newly elected Senate and House of Representatives.
The APC won majority of the legislative seats during the elections with over 55 Senate seats out of 109 and over 160 out of 360 House of Representatives seats. Many APC chieftains and legislative member-elect have expressed interest in the highly coveted positions in the red and green chambers. They include Orji Kalu, Jibrin Barau, Godswill Akpabio, Dave Umahi, Ahmad Lawan, Abdulaziz Yari, Osita Izunaso, amongst others.
However, Ndume said the time is not yet ripe for him to be the Senate President though the constitution does not stop him from running.
He said that his party produced the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu from the South-West zone and the Vice-President-Elect, Kashim Shettima from the North-East does not stop lawmakers from the two zone from aspiring to the leadership of the incoming 10th National Assembly.
The lawmaker, who is also from the North-East zone like Shettima, said, “Of course, if I say I want to contest and the party say, ‘No, it’s not fair for the Senate President to come from the North or the North-East, do we then now say that we want to contest against the wish of the party which we did at one time and the aftermath was a bit clumsy and we don’t want to have a repetition of that?” he asked.
“For me, the leadership of the National Assembly should be open in the first instance.
“The Senate President is not supposed to be a regional President; it’s a Senate President of the Nigerian Senate.
“We have 109 senators. The leadership emergence is not clearly stated. Section 50 of the constitution states that the Senate President shall be elected among the members.”