Despite the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to issue certificates of return to winners of the National Assembly elections, the race for principal offices, particularly, the position of Senate President in the upper chamber, has begun.
It was reliably gathered that the incumbent President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and some of the senators-elect, like Orji Uzor Kalu, Barau Bibrin, Godswill Akpabio, Adams Oshiomhole, Abdul-Aziz Yari and Dave Umahi, had started subtle campaigns among their colleagues.
The choice of the next senate president is expected to depend largely on the zoning of the office, among other principal offices, by the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Expectations are high that the party leadership may zone the office of the number three citizen to the South-east, as part of moves to pacify the Igbo, having missed out from the presidential contest in all the parties at a time the clamour for a president of South-east extraction was high.
All things being equal however, the current Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, has the brightest chance, as a ranking senator with cognate experience from that part of the country in APC.
Another school of thought presupposes that there is a need to pacify the North West by way of acknowledging their contribution to the emergence of the president-elect. This may well see the likes of Jibrin and Yari in the race for the senate president.
These permutations notwithstanding, the leadership of APC may give room for the preference of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. The race for senate president may therefore be thrown open. Such decision would not only make the post anyone’s call but also engender an intense race to the senate presidency.
