How Nigeria’s next Senate President will emerge. A Neusroom explainer
On June 8, 2015, during the inauguration of newly-elected Senators for the 8th Assembly, Nigeria witnessed one of the most dramatic legislative proceedings in the nation’s history. While a majority of the new All Progressive Congress (APC) Senators were at a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, to discuss the party’s position on the election of a new leadership for the National Assembly. Bukola Saraki, who was also elected on the platform of the APC, colluded with lawmakers from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), moved into the National Assembly complex with the number of Senators needed for a sitting and he was elected as the 13th President of the Senate.
With the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly scheduled to hold on June 13, 2023, after President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu is sworn in as Nigeria’s president on May 29, the battle for Nigeria’s number 3 office and other principal offices has started.
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, there were agitations from some quarters that the presidency should be zoned to the Southeast region, one of the geopolitical zones that are yet to produce a president since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. With Peter Obi of the Labour Party losing to Bola Tinubu of the APC in the February 25, 2023, amidst allegations of rigging and manipulation, there have been increasing debates for the zoning of the Senate President to the southeast as it was under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration from 1999-2007
How political power is shared in Nigeria
In 1995, during the military regime of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria was structured into six geopolitical zones to pacify agitations often fueled by the feeling of marginalisation. After over three decades of military and a two and half year war that killed an estimated three million people, there was the need for a government that includes the over 250 ethnic groups in the country. The zones were not just carved out based on geographic location but were a reflection of states with similar ethnic and/or political histories. Hence, allocation of power was meant to be shared according to the Principles of Federal Character as stated in the 1999 constitution.
Section 14 (3), of the constitution, states:
“The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies.”
How does a Senate President emerge?
The process of choosing a Senate President begins with a nomination immediately after the new Senators are sworn-in by the Clerk of the Senate. The contestants are nominated from the party with the highest number of Senators, and where there are two nominations, an election will be held to decide the Senate President. In 2019, the seat was contested between the present Senate President Ahmad Lawan from Yobe state (Northeast), who scored 79 votes to defeat the former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume from Borno State (Northeast).
However, not all senators from the ruling party are eligible to run for the office of Senate President, returning senators are preferred to first-timers based on their experience in the Senate. In the already declared 101 senators for the 10th Assembly, APC has 54 seats while the opposition parties have a combined 47 seats, suggesting that the ruling party is more likely to produce the next Senate President.
Since 1999, choosing a Senate President has followed a similar pattern in line with balancing the powers among the geopolitical zones. For even distribution of power among the geo-political zones, from 1999 to 2007, when Olusegun Obasanjo, from the Southwest, and Atiku Abubakar from the Northeast were President and Vice President respectively, the Senate President was zoned to the Southeast. With the President-elect from the Southwest and the Vice from the Northeast, pundits say the office of the Senate President may likely be zoned to the Southeast or south-south as we witnessed during Obasanjo’s administration.
Former governors Uzor Kalu from Abia state and Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom who are returning APC Senators are in the race for the number 3 office.
Dr. Robert Ekat, Neusroom’s political analyst, said that “while the constitution of Nigeria encourages national integration through the Federal Character system, there is no law that says a Senate President cannot be from the same tribe or geopolitical zone with the president or the Vice.”
“Since Tinubu is from the Southwest and his Vice from the Northeast, he can have a dialogue with his party senators for them to nominate an Igbo candidate in the bid to form a government of national unity and integration,” he said.
Despite the growing agitation for an inclusive government and for the Senate President to be zoned to a particular region, an interested candidate must lobby and consult with other senator-elects.
“It is entirely up to the senators to choose who their Senate President will be,” Ekat said.
