Date: 2015-05-09

>Last week senator-elect, Binta Masi Garba threw her hat in the ring in the contest for the Senate presidency. JONATHAN NDA -ISAIAH writes on her chances in the race.

“Pulled by this passion and cognate legislative experiences built over the years, I wish to humbly inform you of my decision to vie for the presiding office zoned to the north-east region on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). It is in this regard that I solicit your kind support and counsel in any form.”

These were the words of senator-elect, Binta Masi Garba last week as she declared her aspirations for the senate presidency. Feelers from the APC show that the party may have zoned the senate presidency to the northeast. So far, Senators Bukola Saraki (Kwara), George Akume (Benue) and Ahmed Lawan are seen as the leading contenders for the slot. Senator Ali Ndume (Borno) has also signaled his intention for the top job.

If the party eventually zones the office to the northeast, Senator Binta will slug it out with Ahmad Lawan and Ali Ndume. It’s on record that no female senator has ever presided over the Senate, either as the president or the deputy. In the House Of Reps, Hon Patricia Etteh’s reign as speaker was short-lived.

It’s also on record that no woman has ever been governor of any state in Nigerian however some states in the southwest, like Lagos and Ekiti states, for example, have produced deputy governors. Senator Aisha Alhassan’s bid to govern Taraba State was unsuccessful in the last general elections.

Currently, the APC boasts of three female senators in the Upper House-Oluremi Tinubu (APC Lagos Central); incumbent Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Monsurat Sunmonu (Oyo Central) and Binta Masi Garba (APC Adamawa Nnorth). Binta is the only female senator from the entire northern Nigeria, unlike the current senate which has Senators Zainab Kure, Nnenadi Usman and Aisha Alhassan from the north.

Meanwhile the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have five female senators. They are House of Representatives member, Uche Ekwunife (Anambra central); former aviation minister, Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi (Anambra north); Rose Oko (Cross River north), House of Representatives member between 2003 and 2007; Fatimat Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti central), and Abiodun Olujimi (Ekiti south).

In the northeast, LEADERSHIP Weekend checks reveal that Ahmad Lawan is the favourite to clinch the top job in the Senate, having been a member of the National Assembly since 1999. However a new twist emerged last week as senators from the northeast rejected Lawan as the consensus candidate of the region.

LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that 20 APC senators from the northwest endorsed the candidature of Ahmad Lawan for the position at the end of a caucus meeting held at Sheraton Hotels and Towers.

However the northeast APC senators, in response to the northwest senators’ endorsement of Senator Lawan, led by Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) in a press briefing maintained that no zone will be allowed to impose a candidate on them.

Goje, who addressed the press along with nine other senators – elect from the zone, said as far as they are concerned, they are still pleading with the party’s leadership to officially zone the position to them, after which whoever will emerge as consensus candidate will be decided by them and not by any other zone.

According to him, on Thursday night in the Kaduna room of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, 12 out of the 13 APC senators-elect from the northeast, met and resolved as follows: (1), that northeast APC senators’ caucus for the 8th Senate have been put on ground; ( ii) that the zone is appealing to the APC highest hierarchy to zone the highest position in the National Assembly, that is, the position of Senate president to the northeast in view of its peculiar circumstances and (ii), that the caucus should be allowed, in consultation with the party leadership, to nominate whoever we want for the position.

He said, “Therefore, in the light of the above resolutions, we call on all Nigerians to completely disregard any purported endorsement of any senator from the northeast by any zone for the position, because any post zoned to us must have our input.

‘’We don’t know anything about any endorsement of anybody from the northeast, as is being purported in the pages of newspapers. We disassociate ourselves from any endorsements from other zones, because the party has not zoned any position to us yet and we don’t want to jump the gun.”

With the recent candidature of Lawan suffering a setback, Senator Binta may be banking on the support of her colleagues in the northeast and her female counterparts in the senate to actualise her dream.

Many have expressed optimism that if given a principal role at the 8th National Assembly, Binta will do exceedingly well, considering her success in leading a team of men as chairman of the APC in Adamawa State, where they defeated prominent politicians such as Bamanga Tukur, Barr Ahmed Gulak, Marcus Gundiri, Ahmed Modibbo, amongst others. She also contested and won against incumbent governor of Adamawa State, Bala Ngiliari, the senatorial seat in her zone, proving her political mettle.

Many of political analysts have called for women to be elected into leadership positions in the Senate, as the womenfolk in Nigeria have been thoroughly sidelined when it comes to the formation of leadership in the red chamber. As it is currently, in the 7th senate, no woman is in any leadership position.

According to a university don, Professor Vanduhe Apagu of Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH), it could be that women did not vie for principal offices with their male counterparts in the 7th Assembly because of some stringent laws, adding that as a three time member of the House of Representatives from Kaduna south and Michika/Madagali federal constituencies, respectively, Binta is qualified to hold any principal office in the Senate.

The senator-elect, Binta Masi Garba had earlier written an open letter on the need for all and sundry to support her in her quest to emerge as the first female Senate president in Nigeria, if the office is zoned to the northeast.

The senator-elect wrote: “I wish to express my profound gratitude to my immediate constituency, the electorates and Nigerians in general for the unalloyed support, particularly in my progressive legislative career while serving our fatherland in various capacities.

“Indeed, Nigeria is still grappling with challenges partly owing to her nascent democracy. This notwithstanding, a lot has to be done to salvage the plight of our citizens who have contributed immensely towards national development. This is why our collective resolve is not based on creed, tribe or gender, but on united selfless service as a pathway to a great society.”

She also submitted that in a bid to continuously lend her service, she has a well-structured, creative and intelligent approach towards legislative governance that will herald brighter fortunes for the teeming youth, better lives for women and children, and better welfare for aged parents, through effective legislations.

“Pulled by this passion and cognate legislative experiences built over the years, I wish to humbly inform you of my decision to vie for the presiding office zoned to the norteast region on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). It is in this regard that I solicit your kind support and counsel in any form.”

It remains to be seen if she has the clout to convince her colleagues in the northeast to endorse her candidature for the top job. Having survived political battles in her state, she may yet pull another surprise and make history as the first female senate president in the country.