It is as well that the majority of Nigerians have come hard on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, for conceiving and causing to be passed the new Senate rule which prescribes that only ranking senators who are currently members of the 10th Assembly would be qualified to be elected Senate President when a new Senate (the 11th) is inaugurated by June next year. It is a dramatic irony that, when the majority of Nigerians want to see Akpabio’s back, he is plotting to perpetuate himself in office. If Akpabio were to know how he is rated by Nigerians as the most uninspiring, dour, unproductive, anti-people and autocratic Senate President since the return of democracy in 1999, he would not have embarked on that suicidal exercise.
Again, if Nigerians had matured enough politically in holding leaders accountable, Akpabio would not even darken the corridors of the Senate, being that he is still under trial for corrupt practices, being that he filched the election from a former police chief, Ekpoudum, and being that he is yet to successfully extricate himself from sexual accusations by a former Managing Director of NDDC, an accusation which surfaced again in the Senate by his colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Therefore, he is the least of anyone to try to stop another from being the next Senate President.
Beyond that, the new rule is full of assumptions, which ordinarily would impede it from being implemented. One is the assumption that all 109 senators in the current Assembly will be alive in 2027 and be re-elected. Because Akpabio is not God, he cannot guarantee that. The second assumption is that the APC will form the majority in the next Senate, except Akpabio is confirming the fears of Nigerians that his party has concluded plans to rig the election in their favour. The third is that Akpabio will still be the apple in the eyes of APC leaders who, largely, will point the way to who should emerge as Senate President.
The first assumption is at the realm of ecclesiastical monopoly and should be left to divine providence. The second assumption needs further interrogation. Without this current scale of defections by senators propelled by the sole aim of retaining their seats, the APC could not have had the overwhelming majority that it enjoys currently in the National Assembly. If anything, given the disenchantment against some of the policies of the APC, there is bound to be a backlash in the next election. With what happened in 2023 when the Obi wave took the ruling party by surprise, there could still be a political tsunami that may overturn the APC majority. If that happens, would Akpabio still assume the presidency of the Senate? Of course not.
We know that, despite the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reform the economy, the senators are hugely unpopular in their constituencies. People see them as the symbols of their suffering. With their prodigal and flamboyant lifestyle, they offend the sensibilities of the common man, who rightly or wrongly attributes their economic strangulation to them. That is why many would rather seek new people in the Senate. Except the APC rigs the election, the political tsunami may not be far. Where would that leave Akpabio with his self-serving and ill-advised new rule?
The most presumptuous and idiotic flaw in that new rule is for Akpabio to believe that the APC would still pick him as the new Senate President if he eventually wangles his way to the 11th Senate. While the Senate as an institution is free to run its show, including choosing its principal officers, we know that the party, with the president as the leader, still pulls the strings. It is not peculiar to Nigeria. President Donald Trump even made his preferred leaders public before the inauguration of the current Congress. The questions then arise: will the president and APC still be enamoured of Akpabio, with his political baggage, to lead the Senate? If, perchance, there is a new golden boy, would it not take a simple directive from the party to its members to tear down this selfish rule?
When Akpabio talks about experience as the strength of the new rule, it is neither here nor there, because many of those who have been Senate Presidents started on the job and still performed well. You cannot know how a job is done until you get your hands on the handle of that job. Anyim Pius Anyim and Ken Nnamani were considered to be exceptional Senate Presidents with huge popularity among their colleagues. They were first-timers. Even Bukola Saraki did well as Senate President in his first term, the reason he was re-elected even without the input of the APC. Ghali Na’abba of the House of Representatives was a rookie when he was elected Speaker, yet he excelled, as he is still considered the best Speaker since 1999. That means that the question of experience does not count.
Indeed, what actually counts is the character of the leader, his leadership style, whether it is inclusive or combative and antagonistic, which has been the hallmark of Akpabio’s turbulent leadership. Even when the APC has the majority, Akpabio is finding it difficult to lead the Senate seamlessly. When he is not clashing with Ali Ndume, he is threatening to remove Adams Oshiomhole from the Chambers. He simply lacks the character to lead the Senate.
At any rate, stampeding the Senate to make a rule targeted at Senator Hope Uzodimma shows the shallowness of his thinking. Whereas Uzodimma has not even declared to contest the election to the Senate, Akpabio is jittery. As Oshiomhole pointed out in his lone effort to stop the perfidious new rule from being passed, that action will turn round to haunt the Senate President and the 10th Senate.
It is obvious that Akpabio lacks the confidence to face a mere democratic internal mechanism that involves the selection of a Senate President among 109 senators. It is also obvious that he plans to foist himself on the electorate by presumptuously seeking to put the cart before the horse. While I wish him luck in his power-grabbing gamble, I just hope he is aware of the banana peels, which usually deal a mortal blow to overambitious politicians. It has happened before. It will happen again. The new Senate rule is dead on arrival and should be sent to the trash bin by the 11th Senate.
Udemba is an Imo based public affairs analyst
