….As Senate schemes out Uzodimma , others from Principal and Presiding positions
By Daniel Ado
ABUJA- AHEAD of 2027 Presidential and general elections, the Senate has put in place, moves to scheme out incoming Senators for the 11th National Assembly from contesting for the position of President of the Senate has amended its standing rule; limiting the eligibility of candidates for the Senate Presidency to only candidates in the 9th and 10th Assembly.
According to the new amendment of the Senate standing Order, the Senate has narrowed the scope of eligibility from Senators – elect for Principal and Presiding Positions for only two termed Senators will be eligible to vye for any Principal office.
With this development, it appears that it has shut the door of eligibility against would be Senators in the 11th National Assembly in June 2027 like Senators Hope Uzodimma, Imo, Kabiru Marafa, ZamfaraCentral, Adams Oshiomhole, Edo North, among others.
The Senate after about three hours closed door session , amended orders 4 and 5 of its standing rules to edge out those who were not in the 9th and current 10th Senate .
The new amendment went further to state that one of the two consecutive terms must immediately preceed such nomination.
The immediate implication of this is that only members of the 10th Assembly who are re-elected in the 11th Senate will be eligible to contest for the positions.
The Senate explains that the new standing rule is to engender strict compliance with the parliamentary tradition of ranking.
The amended order 4 states : “Nomination of Senators to serve as Presiding Officers shall be in accordance with the ranking of Senators and shall be strictly adhered to .
” The order of ranking are (i) Former President of the Senate , (ii) Former Deputy President of the Senate , ( iii) Former Principal Officers of the Senate , ( iv) Senators who had served at least one term of four years , ( v) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives , ( vi) In the absence of i to v, Senators elected into the Senate for the first time ” .
Aside the order of ranking used to narrow the window of eligibility among Senators – elect for the Presiding Positions , the 10th Senate went further with additional provision in Order 5 to knock off freshers in the contest .
The order states : ” Any Senator shall not be eligible to contest for any Principal Office of the Senate unless he has served as a Senator for at least two consecutive terms immediately proceeding nomination ” , which means that Senators who were not in the 9th and current 10th Senate , are not eligible to vie for presiding officers ‘s positions in the 11th Senate .
Presiding officers positions in the Senate are President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate.
Principal officers positions are Senate Leader , Deputy Senate Leader , Chief Whip and Deputy Whip of the Senate
.
Others are Minority Leader , Deputy Minority Leader , Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip .
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