Ranking senators of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) still scramble for the unoccupied principal offices in the 10th National Assembly.
The successful inauguration of the 10th national assembly on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, and the emergence of presiding officers paved the way for the appointment of principal officers to pilot the affairs of the senate for the next four years.
Infopowerng gathered that the former Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South; immediate past Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central; and Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, APC, Oyo North are very much interested in the position of majority leader.
While Ndume is from the North-East, Bamidele and Buhari are both from the South-West.
The party has not taken a decision on which geo-political zone of the country should produce the Senate leader and his deputy
With the election of Senator Akpabio and Senator Jibrin Barau as Senate President and Deputy respectively, attention has shifted to the other principal offices
The game among the Senators is the push by some South West Senators to produce a Yoruba Majority Leader. They are being countered by some Northern Senators who want the North to produce Senate Leader arguing that if a South West Senator becomes the Majority leader, it would create more tension in the already tensed 10th Senate following the last election of Presiding officers where former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari from the North-West lost to Akpabio from the South-South.
Thus, all eyes are on Tinubu and the APC hierarchy as their decision would go a long way in ending or inflaming the intrigues and quagmire in the National Assembly.
Aside from the office of the President of the Senate and the Deputy who must go through an election, the other principal offices are purely the affairs of the parties, which nominate members for such positions.
In the Senate, the principal office positions for the ruling APC are the Majority Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Majority Leader, and Deputy Majority Whip.
The opposition parties produce Minority Leader, Minority Whip, Deputy Minority Leader and Deputy Minority Whip.
With 59 senators, the APC is the majority party in the Senate while the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is the major opposition party with 36 senators. The other parties with slots in the Senate are the Labour Party, LP, 8; New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, 2; Social Democratic Party, SDP, 2; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, 1; and Young Progressives Party, YPP, 1.
In essence, the six opposition parties have altogether 50 senators as against APC’s 59.
The four geo-political zones that are yet to produce principal officers are the North-East, North-Central, South-East and South-West
In accordance with the tradition of the Senate, geo-political zones that did not produce the Senate President and the Deputy, are expected to occupy the key positions, especially in the ruling party.
As it is, the South-South and North-West are out of the equation having produced the President of the Senate and the Deputy