Jibrin To Battle Uzor-Kalu, Umahi, Others For 10th Senate Presidency

The battle for the 10th Senate Presidency is heating up with the declaration of the Senator representing Kano North Senatorial District, Barau Jibrin, to contest for the position.

Naija News reports that Jibrin declared his intention to join the race for the 10th Senate President during a chat with reporters at the 10th National Assembly in Abuja on Wednesday.

Senator Jibrin disclosed that he will officially declare for the position in a few days, thereby joining the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State in the race.

The All Progressives Congress chieftain described himself as the most ranking and experienced among Senators-elect seeking to lead the next Senate.

He also dismissed recourse to religious sentiments by some aspirants instead of competence and record of performance as criteria for electing the next Senate President.

Barau said he is the most qualified for the job by experience and ranking, stressing that competence must be prioritized over sentiments in the race for the office of senate president.

He said, “I intend to seek to be the president of the 10th senate. In the next few days, I will start my campaign and make a formal declaration.

“Legislature is a distinct arm of government that doesn’t work based on sentiments, it works on your ability to get the job done.

“It is the tradition all over the world and it is also stated there in our rule book and the rules are drafted from our constitutions. It is stated there in our standing rules that aspirations of elections for the seat of the senate presidency shall be in accordance with ranking.

“Among those who are running for the seat of the senate presidency, I am the most ranked senator. Do you now play against competence based on sentiments?”

Barau is the second-ranking senator-elect to make his intention to contest for the position known after Kalu said on Tuesday that he will contest for the post and it is his turn to be the next Senate President.

APC Denies Zoning Senate Presidency To North-West

Meanwhile, the APC has debunked the report claiming that it has zoned the position of the Senate Presidency to the North West geo-political zone.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, made this known in a statement titled ‘APC Yet To Zone Key 10th National Assembly Positions’.

He described the report of the zoning arrangements as false and misleading.

Morka said, “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to a report circulating on social media on purported zoning of key positions of the incoming 10th National Assembly. The report is false and misleading and should be disregarded in its entirety.

“The party has not made any decision on the zoning of positions or offices of the 10th Assembly. As soon as a decision is made on zoning, it will be made public through the party’s official communications channel.”