Race for 2023: How defections left leadership vacuum in senate

The cross carpeting by some ranking members in the Ninth National Assembly, including principal officers, has left a leadership vacuum in the senate, Daily Trust reports.

The Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi; Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe; and Adamu Aliero who chairs the Senate Committee on Works, fell out with their political parties and switched to others following their failure to secure tickets to contest in the 2023 general elections.

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Though the Ninth Senate had witnessed defections of several members from one party to another, this is the first time its principal officers would be switching parties.

While Abaribe dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Abdullahi and Aliero defected to PDP from the ruling APC.

Abdullahi got zero votes at the APC governorship primary in Kebbi, while Abaribe withdrew from Abia PDP governorship primary hours to the election, saying going ahead to participate would amount to “endorsement of an illegality”.

They blamed their defections on the injustice meted out on them by the party leadership in their states.

The lawmakers have now secured their new parties’ tickets to contest senatorial elections in 2023.

However, more than 10 other senators who lost out have remained in their parties despite complaints that the primaries were marred by irregularities.

With this development, Abdullahi and Abaribe would resume plenary with their colleagues when the National Assembly reconvenes , but their defections have automatically overturned the principal office positions they earlier held.

Daily Trust further reports that the vacancy of majority and minority leadership positions will not affect legislative business of the red chamber.

According to the Senate Standing Order, in the absence of majority and minority leaders, their deputies would take charge pending the nomination of substantive lawmakers to occupy the positions.

Meanwhile, senators are already jostling to fill the vacant positions.

Nominating replacement rests on the senate caucus of the zone that produced the principal officer to select a replacement from their zone.

The caucus is expected to write their party’s national leadership about the nomination for onward transmission to the senate president.

With this arrangement, the odds favour Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi) to replace Yahaya Abdullahi as senate leader.

This is so because Shuaibu Lau replaced Emmanuel Bwacha (both from Taraba) as deputy minority leader when the latter dumped PDP for APC.

For the minority leadership position, though some senators are said to be eyeing the position, the PDP may likely nominate Uche Lilian Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra) or Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu) since the South East produced Abaribe.