Senate Presidency: Ndume dares APC, rolls out 9-point agenda

…Promises to reduce privileges attached to the office of Senate President

…APC group demands Speaker position for North Central

Tunde Opalana & Tom Okpe, Abuja

Against the background of the endorsement of Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the position of Senate President in the 9th Senate, a strong contender, Senator Ali Ndume has forged ahead with his ambition by releasing a 9-point agenda.

Unfolding the agenda on Tuesday in Abuja, the Borno South Senator, who promised to improve upon the performance of the 8th Senate, said he will make the Office of the Senate President less attractive by reducing the unnecessary privileges attached to the office.

Promising to uphold the Independence of the Legislative arm of government, he hoped to “work harmoniously and inter-dependently with the Executive without undermining the principle of Separation of Power”.

Ndume said he will prioritise and ensure the passage of the Constituency Development Bill to make “Constituency projects more transparent, accountable, efficient and effective”.

In cooperation and synergy with other senators-elect, he said the Senate will agree on timeline for confirmation, passage of bills especially the annual budgets which he said will not exceed 90 days from the day of submission.

Other issues on his agenda for the plum job include “to make laws that will block leakages, devise improved means of generating revenue, especially through the amendment and review of our tax laws which will help to reduce reliance on local and foreign loans to finance budget.

“To run the 9th Senate transparency, through open accountability with full participation of all Senators.

“For example, we will transfer the approving powers of the privileges of the senators like foreign travels, allowances to Senate services committee or a new committee to be known as “ways and means committee “.

To uphold the party’s principles and policies, he said the Senate under his Presidency will make laws and review existing ones to be in tandem with APC’s Next Level Agenda for Nigeria.

Meanwhile, in a related development, a group known as the All Progressives Congress (APC), North Central Ambassadors has demanded the party to reward the North Central geo-political zone of the country with the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the commencement of the 9th National Assembly in May.

The Group which led a protest to the National Secretariat of the party on Tuesday in Abuja in a letter dated April 1st, sent to the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, insisted that the zone must be rewarded with the seat because of the number of votes it delivered to President Muhammadu Buhari in the last Presidential poll.

The letter, which was also made available to newsmen, was signed by five States of the North Central and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) coordinators including Muyideen Yusuf (Kwara); Rita Longjap (Plateau); Muhammad Ibn Muhammad (Niger); Lucas Cassius (Nasarawa); Yahaya Dauda (FCT) and Shehu Araga (Kogi).

Recall that the APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the National Working Committee (NWC) had declared their support for a Lagos lawmaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.

The North Central group in the letter, argued that since North-West has the President, South West with Vice President, and Senate President has been zoned to North East, Speaker of the House of Representatives should be zoned to the North Central.

The letter reads: “North-Central should be rewarded for its performance in the 2019 election. With 2.4 million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari, the zone came third behind North-West and North-East.

“North Central has consistently been loyal to the party since 1999 and has never occupied the position of speaker or deputy speaker while all the other zones have occupied these positions”.

The Group queried that though South West has the VP, it didn’t perform as well as the North-Central in the last elections, and so the zone (North Central) should be rewarded.