Ali Ndume, a lawmaker from Borno South Senatorial District, believes the leadership of the 10th National Assembly (NASS) should be open and not limited to geopolitical locations in Nigeria.
Ndume during a Channels TV program, also stated that he is awaiting a decision from his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), on the leadership of the incoming Senate and House of Representatives.
Senator Ali Ndume claims that the Senate President position is not based on geography, but rather on a vote of the lawmakers.
During the elections, the APC won a majority of legislative seats, with over 55 Senate seats out of 109 and over 160 House of Representatives seats out of 360.
Many APC leaders and legislative members-elect have expressed interest in the highly sought-after seats in the red and green chambers. Among them are Orji Kalu, Jibrin Barau, Godswill Akpabio, Dave Umahi, Ahmad Lawan, Abdulaziz Yari, and Osita Izunaso.
However, Ndume stated that the time is not yet right for him to be Senate President, despite the fact that the constitution does not preclude him from running.
He stated that the fact that his party produced President-Elect Bola Tinubu from the South-West zone and Vice-President-Elect Kashim Shettima from the North-East zone does not preclude lawmakers from the two zones from aspiring to lead the incoming 10th National Assembly.
“Of course, if I say I want to contest and the party says, ‘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?” the lawmaker 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.”
