Former Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Sen. Ita Enang, has warned members-elect of the 10th National Assembly against act that could lead to emergence of inexperienced senator–elect as senate president.
Enang, who was also former Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, gave the warning in an interview with a television station monitored in Abuja.
It will be recalled that legislators in the National Assembly are usually elected or appointed as presiding or principal officers based on their ranking vis-a-vis legislative experience, among others factors.
The ex-presidential aide said though ranking member, according to the rules and business of the Senate, is somebody who had legislative experience, he stressed that the word, “ranking” in the Senate is very fluid.
“It is fluid because it stated in Order 3, Rule 2 or Rule 1 that you will have to be a ranking senator.
“That is, a senator returning based on the number of times he is returning; a senator who has been a member of House of Representatives and lastly, senator elected as senator for the first time.
“The problem is that when you read Order 3, Rule 3(1a), it says in the course of the proceeding on the floor, a senator-elect, addressing the clerk shall propose another senator-elect to the Senate to be the Senate president and shall move that such senator-elect do take the chair as president of the Senate.”
He said this section of the rules, therefore, gave members the right to nominate anybody to be elected as Senate president.
Enang, who also served as presidential aide on Niger Delta Affairs, expressed fear that on the day of the inauguration, it was possible that somebody who was not ranking could be nominated in the Senate as president.
“That is why I read Order 3, Rule 3(1a) which says a senator-elect shall nomine another senator-elect. It did not qualify it like the House of Representatives does,” he added.
He stated that the rules in the House of Representatives was more specific and cogent.
“It says a member-elect, addressing the clerk shall propose another member-elect, with legislative experience as a member of the National Assembly, to be speaker and shall move that such do take the chair.
“In the House of Representatives, what we did was to specifically say that you must choose a member who has legislative experience in the National Assembly.
“What this means is that even if you were a former governor, you can’t come to be the speaker,” he said.
He, however, warned against having an inexperience person as Senate president, saying “you definitely need an experienced person.”
Enang, who advised that the seats of Senate president and deputy speaker should be zoned to the south south and south east geo-political regions, said the north central and north west should contest for the positions of speaker and deputy president of the senate.
“Now, the south west has gotten the president’s seat, the north east has the vice president.
“Two zones should be off now on this calculation; the south west and the north east.
“Therefore, the south south and south east should be allowed to produce the Senate president and deputy speaker.
“I agree that the north west has a majority of basket votes that they can take, we should be mindful of the unity of the country and the legislators should also follow suit.
“And I am sure that the incoming president; Tinubu, the.president-elect and the vice president-elect, Shettima, will ensure that justice is done to all the zones,” he said.
There have been controversies over who becomes the next Senate president or speaker in the 10th National Assembly.
