South West PDP caucus nominates Muraina as House Speaker.
Critism has continued to trail the proposed amendment to the Senate Standing Rule that tends to exclude first-term lawmakers from contesting for the principal position of the upper chamber of the legislature.
During an interaction with political reporters in Abuja yesterday, the Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Chief Emmanuel Okereke described the latest amendment as anti-democratic and an attempt to make the upper chamber subvert the will of the electorate.
Besides, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South West may have picked Alhaji Ajibola Muraina as their candidate for the House of Representatives Speaker.
The position, which is currently being occupied by Dimeji Bankole becomes vacant as from May 29 when Bankole's tenure ends. The leadership at the national level has again zoned the position to the South West where Bankole hails from.
Muraina was said to have been nominated after several hours of meeting by the South West PDP caucus held in the Abeokuta residence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A source at the meeting told The Guardian in Abeokuta yesterday that Obasanjo presided over the meeting and after an exhaustive deliberation, Muraina was nominated by the majority of those in attendance.
Okereke said allowing the rule to pass would give credence to the allegation that the incumbent Senate President David Mark, has indeed bought over senators in his attempt to return as Senate President.
According to Okereke, who is also the National Chairman of the African Liberation Party (ALP), all senators should be allowed to run for the number three position in the country as it would demonstrate that competence is the watchword in the nation's quest for credible leadership.
His words: "My take is that every senator should be allowed to run for whichever office in the Senate, unless somebody is proving the allegation that money has exchanged hands for the amendment to pass. It is time we showed that the Legislature is truly independent from the Executive by not allowing the obnoxious attempt to pass through. Why don't we say that for someone to be President of this country that person should have been vice president or chief justice? Please every lawmaker should be given equal opportunity."
Also speaking, the National Chairman of the African Renaissance Party (ARP), Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, described the move as a continuation of business as usual and an attempt to rubbish democracy.
Ndu believed it was better to have patriots that are first-timers in the driver's seat of the Senate than to have a technocrat without the interest of the nation as his priority.
Also yesterday, the Senate came out clearly and said there would be no contest for the position of president of the Senate, stressing that the incumbent president of the Senate, David Mark had done well and would be encouraged to continue in office.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, Ayogu Eze, who stated the position of the chamber at a press conference in the National Assembly, also said that anybody going to court to challenge the position of the Senate on ranking ''will be embarking on an exercise in futility.''
Eze who was reacting to media reports that the Senate might rule out chances of first -time senators getting the presidency of the Senate said the position taken by the Senate was in accordance with the Senate Standing Rules and the nation's constitution.
"We thought it necessary to amend our rules and not deign to stop anybody from aspiring to any position in the Senate but the truth is that the position of the Senate President is not for first-timer. They cannot preside over the Senate because it is a difficult challenge. For the avoidance of doubt, what we are doing is in line with the Standing Rules of the Senate and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria'', he stated.
He cited section 60 of the constitution reiterating that as the source from which the Senate derives its power for the necessary laws of the land. Section 60 states: ''Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the Senate or the House of Representatives shall have power to regulate its own procedure, including the procedure for summoning and recess of the House."
He further said that the action of the Senate was meant to strengthen democracy. ''Whatever we are doing is inspired by the noblest ideals and we are trying to strengthen democracy in our country'', he added.
On the controversy over the next Senate president, Eze gave the impression that the incumbent president of the Senate would have no problem succeeding himself. "Is there a contest for Senate presidency? The office has nothing to do with individual but institutional integrity. Is there anybody who is not aware of the leadership role of the Senate in the last four years? The leadership of the Senate has demonstrated capacity and so we don't think there is any contest. Do you think there is really a contest?" he asked.
The chamber has proposed an amendment to its standing rules saying: "Presiding and other officers (a) nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointments of principal officers and other officers of the Senate or any parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators. In determining ranking, the following order shall apply;-
(i) senators returning based on number of times re-elected (ii) senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; (ii) senators who had been members of a state House of Assembly or any other legislative house (iv) senators elected as senators for the first time.''
Eze also said that the two chambers had raised a conference committee to harmonise positions on the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) Bill and would pass the bill before the tenure of the sixth National Assembly ends in June.
Meanwhile, 75 senators including the newly elected ones have endorsed the Senate Presidency of David Mark for the next session of the Senate.
According to Senator Smart Adeyemi yesterday in an interview with The Guardian in Ilorin, the decision was taken after a meeting in Abuja just as the concerned senators believed that Mark's return would guarantee stability at the upper legislative arm.
The senators cut across parties' affinities as they unanimously supported the Senate president said to be possessing leadership traits that could sustain the existing peaceful sessions at the Senate.
Also, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said yesterday that the failure of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as President Goodluck Jonathan to reward the about five million votes given to them from the southeast with juicy positions at the National Assembly was not only unjust but contemptuous.
Reacting to reports about zoning of political offices in the seventh National Assembly in which the leadership of the PDP has allocated positions of the secretary to government of the federation and deputy Senate president to the Southeast, the CPC said the arrangement had automatically schemed the zone out of the 2015 Presidency.
In a statement in Enugu, signed by her governorship candidate, Osita Okechukwu, the party also asked the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, governors and leadership of the party in the zone to "publicly apologize to Ndigbo for their failure to return any of the topmost offices to the zone despite their support."
Source: Parties oppose new Senate rule on principal officers (http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47815:parties-oppose-new-senate-rule-on-principal-officers-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)