Interview

Why North-West should be given priority on Senate presidency —Thomas

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2 years ago

A former House of Representatives’ aspirant and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Akinwolere Akin-Thomas Babajide bares his mind on ongoing intrigues among various interest groups over the scramble for the office of president of the Senate in the next political dispensation. COLLINS NNABUIFE brings the excerpts:

Aside from the South-West, all the other five zones are interested in producing the next president of the Senate. Your position is that the North-West deserves the slot. Why do you want the office zoned to the North-West

I believe that there must be equity, fairness and justice, the Presidency has been moved to the South, then I believe that the third most powerful position should also be given to the north and if you look at all the other regions in the north, we should know that the northwest gave the APC the highest number of votes in the last presidential election, and with this, we cannot just leave the North-West alone and go and pick our President of the Senate from the South-South or the South-East, where we know that they have never added any value to APC since the inception of the party. That is why I am clamouring for the seat to be zone to the North-West.

There are governors and senators from the South-East and the South-South who are in the APC, don’t you think that they too should be considered?

A lot of people have been the Senate President from the South-East in the Past, Like Senator Chuba Okadigbo, Senator Aldolphus Wabara, Senator Ken Nnamani, but let us keep sentiments apart and face reality, and the reality is that the administration that is coming into office on May 29 is a full APC administration, sincerely if you look at the last election, APC did not win the states in the South-East and South South where their governors are members of the party at the presidential election. Let us call a spade a spade, APC cannot leave the North-West zone open for an opposition to penetrate and take out the region from the party in the next four years. That is why I am saying definitely we can look around and give the South East or the South-South deputy president of the Senate or some key positions in the National Assembly but not the Senate Presidency Seat.

The issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket in the APC is still sparking some reactions, don’t you think that allowing another Muslim to become the president of the Senate will make the APC look like a religious party?

We are not talking about religion; we are talking about governance and when you look at governance, it doesn’t have anything to do with religion. For example, if you want to fly on a plane as a passenger, when you are inside the aircraft do you ask if the pilot is a Muslim or a Christian? No. You only want to get to your destination. Or probably if you are not feeling fine and you go to the hospital and a doctor wants to attend to you, do you ask the doctor if he is a Muslim or Christian? No. All you want is to get alright. So, it doesn’t matter the religion the leaders are. We should just unite this country and when we are uniting, we should take religion apart; we should take tribe and ethnicity out of it.

What makes you think that Senator Barau Jubrin is the best among other contestants from the North-West?

If you look at all the Senators from the North West, when you talk about the high ranking Senator, Senator Barau Jubrin is the highest ranking Senator at present. Look at the kind of committees he has chaired for the past 8 to 16 years, he has chaired most of the major committees, for example, he was the Chairman of Appropriation, it means that all the budget including the Executive, Judiciary, the Legislature, all will have to pass through his table. So he is somebody that has a relationship with the Executive and all Arms of the government. Also, if you are looking at a Senate President from that region and if you are thinking of who can get it, I think Senator Jubrin should be the best, because you cannot have a Senate President that the colleagues don’t respect, but if you have somebody like Senator Jubrin who has been in the Senate for the past 12 years, you will know that he has got the experience. It is not something that you will give tom a first timer or you just look for a senator because he has the name and give it to him. I think Senator Jubrin is the best person for the position.

If Jubrin emerges as president of the Senate, what will he do differently?

Like I said, he is somebody that has chaired the Appropriation Committee; everything about governance means that you have to understand the budget. Senator Jubrin has been in the system for a while, so it is something that will not delay. He knows that when the budget comes, they shouldn’t waste time on it and he has an experience. He has been in the National Assembly since 1999, so he knows that the National Assembly must collaborate with the Executive Arm of government and make sure they give the people the democracy they want which is the dividend of democracy.

What is your advice to the senators-elect?

I appeal to the senators-elect that they should look at competence, experience and look for somebody that is trustworthy to elect as Senate President so that he can manage the affairs of the National Assembly perfectly.

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