Senate presidency Race begins as senators resume in Nigeria

AHEAD of the plan by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to induct its members elected into the National Assembly this month, there are indications that the party’s zoning formula has continued to dominate discourse at various meetings.

Various groups have continued to meet to fine-tune their positions.

Sources said that a new zoning formula would be unveiled at the induction ceremony billed for May 15 to May 22 in Abuja.

With the April polls over, the zoning formula of the ruling PDP has taken a centre stage ahead of the inauguration of the National Assembly. As different zones and groups have embarked on moves to secure the zoning of top positions to their areas, the party’s senators-elect from the North-East zone after a recent meeting in Abuja demanded for the slot of the Senate presidency.

While some groups have already launched the re-election bid of the Senate President, David Mark who is from the North-Central zone, the South-East is angling to occupy the Speakership position of the House of Representatives. The South-East occupied the Senate President seat from 1999 to 2007 before it moved to the North-Central zone.

It was learnt that the bid by the North-Central to retain the Senate President position has received the tacit nod of the Presidency.

An argument against the retention of the slot in the North Central, according to sources, is that “Mark will reinforce the fears of the core North, which needs to be pacified, since it lost out in the power equation in the aftermath of the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

“The power arrangement in the country since the death of Yar’Adua has created deep dissatisfaction in the core North. It is this dissatisfaction that resulted in the post-election violence that we witnessed after the presidential polls in parts of the North.”

While arguing for the retention of the Senate presidency in the North, senators in the North East have argued that the zone should have the slot. “The North-East has 15 senators elected under the PDP. And in the present zoning arrangement, the North-West has the vice presidential slot, while Speaker of the House of Representatives is expected to come from the South-East,” they said.

The senators elect emphasized the need to cede the position to the zone as a compensation, following the precedence set after the South West was allowed the presidency in 1999 on the strength of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections.

With President Goodluck Jonathan coming from the South-South after the death of President Yar’Adua from the North-West, the senators-elect expressed concern that one way to boost the unity, peace and stability of the nation is to re-zone the Senate presidency. They said that key positions ought to shift in accordance with the dictates of justice, equity and geo-political balancing.

Meanwhile, the Senate resumes today after the general elections to conclude work on the 2011 election for presidential assent just as indications emerged that the chamber has started preparing for a safe landing for some of its members who lost out in the elections.