Jonathan Nda-Isaiah writes on how the recent disclosure by the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that he will work with anyone voted by lawmakers as presiding officers, affects the candidates in their race to the top.

The race for the presidency of the 8th Senate took a different dimension with the declaration by president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari that he had not anointed any candidate for the position of senate president and will willingly work with any Senate leadership, irrespective of their geo-political origin.

With his clear statement on the concerning the race for National Assembly presiding positions, Buhari has shown that he supports all interested senators to be allowed to contest for the slot, irrespective of their zones.

"I am prepared to work with leaders that the House or Senate selects," General Buhari said. "It doesn't matter who the person is or where he or she is from."

He added, that "There is due process for the selection of leaders of the National Assembly and I will not interfere in that process.

"Nigeria has indeed entered a new dispensation. My administration does not intend to repeat the same mistakes made by previous governments," the president-elect stated.

What it portends for aspirants

The major contenders for the 8th Senate presidency are Senators George Akume from Benue State (North-central), Ahmad Lawan from Yobe State (North-east) and Bukola Saraki, Kwara State (North-central.)

These candidates, and their supporters have mounted intense lobbying at geo-political zone and personal levels. Ranking senators and senators-elect have been besieged with appeals and baits to get their support. All the candidates are leaving nothing to chance, as they are even going outside the Senate to secure the much-needed endorsements.

In all these activities, all the senators in the race had hoped that they would get the support of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to endorse them by zoning the position to the zone they respectively come from. But after the statement made by Buhari, it is clear that it is now a race based on pure merit and popularity.

The president-elect has also been consistent in making it clear that he would prefer candidates without blemishes and baggage such as corruption cases to hold positions under his administration.

George Akume

Senator George Akume is one of the contenders from the North-central. A two-time governor of Benue State, he is presently the minority leader of the Senate.

The selling point for his candidacy is that he was able to mobilise massive votes for the APC in the state. The party won the governorship seat in the state in the April election.

But what may work against him is the argument that the North-central has had a long grip of the senate presidency. The present senate president, David Mark, who is from Benue, North-central, is serving out his second tenure.

Bukola Saraki

Senator Bukola Saraki is also a two-time governor of Kwara State. He was elected in 2011 and will be returning to serve a second term next month. He is a vocal lawmaker, who was among the brains that formed the nPDP which broke out from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was able to deliver his state to the APC with overwhelming votes in the general election.

Ahmad Lawan

For Senator Ahmad Lawan, his antecedents put him in a good place with Buhari's expectation. The fact that he is not linked to any controversy even after several years of being in the National Assembly is a plus. Similarly, despite being from the North-east region where insurgency has been raging for long, he has not been linked in any way to the group, Boko Haram.

In addition, the argument that the North-east has been marginalised for long, with the highest position attained in the legislature being that of the deputy speaker in the person of Hon Usman Bayero Nafada in the 6th Assembly, he may be able to win him sympathy votes.

His North-east region has been a strong opposition force in the country. In fact, Borno and Yobe States have consistently been in opposition in Nigeria's democracy and some have argued that a reward has to come to the region in the form of the presidency of the Senate. Another factor that may also tilt the senate presidency towards Lawan, is that within the party, the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) bloc has produced the president-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) wing has produced the vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, while still trying to swing the position of speaker of the House of Representatives to its camp.

In all of these, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has not been compensated for its contribution in ensuring the political success of the APC in the region.

Top members of the party from the North-east have now made a strong case, positing that, "Since 1999, the North-central has benefitted immensely such that in 2011, the zone took not only the senate president seat, it also added the minority leader position to its kitty.

"In times of adversity, the North-east was always consistent with opposition parties, even with its votes.

"That is why some of us are pushing in the party that we should be given the senate president slot. This is the time to reward the zone and not take party loyalty for granted which the PDP did to most of their loyal party members when they were unjustly denied tickets during their primaries last year.

"In fact, some of us are afraid that if justice is not done, what happened in 2011 in the House of Representatives may likely occur in the Senate but we do not pray it gets to that."