Politics
2023: Eight Second Term Governors With Eyes On The Senate Revealed
As the clock ticks towards the 2023 elections, some governors who are completing their second terms next year have commenced moves to switch to the federal parliament, a place tagged as retirement home for state chief executives.
Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, it has been a common practice among governors to retire to the National Assembly as senators after serving out their second term.
Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State is first among the second term governors to pick expression of interest and nomination forms to contest the Plateau South senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The senatorial seat is currently occupied by Nora Ladi Daduut, who was elected to the Red Chamber after the death of Ignatius Longjan.
Serving commissioners from Plateau State raised N60million to purchase the forms for Lalong, according to the chairman of the Commissioners Forum of Plateau State, Yakubu Datti .
As Governor Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa State rounds off his second and final term in office come May 29, 2023, his next political move has become the subject of discourse in the state’s political circle.
While the governor had kept the issue close to his chest, some of his loyalists had linked him to a possible race to the Senate.
The Tide source gathered that the governor’s decision to move to the Red Chamber of the National Assembly was taken during a high-level meeting which took place last week Friday shortly before the governor travelled to Saudi Arabia on lesser hajj.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State in early March, declared his interest to contest the Benue North West senatorial seat currently occupied by Senator Emmanuel Orker Jev.
Ortom said he made the move after a series of consultations with his kinsmen, telling them that he had finally been convinced that God had confirmed to him to contest the election.
Few weeks after his declaration, elders from the Masev, Ihyarev and Nongov Development Association (MINDA) in Benue State presented People’s Democratic Party (PDP’s) expression of interest and nomination forms for the Senate race to the governor.
There were reports weeks ago that Umahi had dropped his presidential ambition to contest the Ebonyi South Senatorial seat in the 2023 general elections.
But the governor dismissed claims through the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Uchenna Orji, who described the claims as falsehood peddled by political charlatans in a statement.
Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, who vacated the Delta North senatorial seat after one tenure in 2015 to become governor, is yet to publicly declare his intention to return to the Red Chamber after completing his second term in 2023, but feelers from the state indicate that the governor is planning to switch over to the parliament.
Earlier last month, the Delta governor had said his next political move would soon be made public after consultation with stakeholders.
Reacting to speculations that Okowa had procured the PDP nomination and expression of interest forms for senatorial election, his Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, said it was within his boss’s constitutional right to return to the Red Chamber.
The coast became cleared for Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to move to the legislature in 2023 as the lawmaker representing his Enugu North senatorial district in the Red Chamber after Chukwuka Utazi, announced that he would not run for the senatorial seat.
Utazi, while addressing the delegates of the PDP from the senatorial district, said he decided not to contest to pave the way for the smooth emergence of Ugwuanyi as Enugu North senator in the 10th National Assembly.
“We will follow our brother and leader. We are going to be behind you, and pray that God would guide you to take this decision,” Utazi assured the governor, amid jubilation.
Governor Darius Ishaku has also commenced scheming to replace the senator representing his Taraba South senatorial district, Emmanuel Bwacha.
The frosty relationship between them forced Bwacha out of the PDP. The lawmaker said he left the party to escape the “apparent persecution” by his governor, whom he accused of being against his political progress.
Gov Aminu Tambuwal is a frontline presidential aspirant of the PDP. However, there are speculations in the state that his plan B is to contest the Sokoto South senatorial election in the event that he loses the party’s presidential primary.
There are insinuations that the governor had asked one of his commissioners, Aminu Bala Bodinga, to buy the PDP form for Sokoto South senatorial zone.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.