11th Senate: There Are Vacancies

Something bizarre happened last week at the chambers of the 10th Senate. But because Nigerians are used to what comes out of the current Senate, very little is being said about it. And that is the Senate’s decision to declare that there is no vacancy in the leadership of the 11th Senate.

It all began when the Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), moved a motion seeking his colleagues’ leave to declare that there is no vacancy in the leadership of the 11th Senate.

Based on the motion, which Cyril Fasuyi (APC, Ekiti North) seconded, there is no vacancy in the positions of the Senate president, Deputy Senate president, Senate leader, Deputy Senate whip, Minority leader, Deputy Minority leader and Minority whip, currently held by Godswil Akpabio, Barau Jibrin, Opeyemi Bamidele, Peter Nwaebonyi, Abba Moro, Olalere Oyewumi and Tony Nwoye, respectively, provided they win re-election.

RELATED: 2027: Senate Backs Akpabio To Continue As Next President, Say No Vacancy

This is clearly in defiance of the Senate standing rules and the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which set out the process for forming the upper chamber’s leadership.

The declaration that there is no vacancy is not about stability in the upper chambers. It is simply incumbent senators’ drive to protect their own seats. We are witnessing a self-preservation drive in its purest form.

A sitting Senate declaring that there is no vacancy in the leadership of a Senate that Nigerians have not yet elected is like a tenant renewing a tenancy for a house that has not been built. Such an action offends both law and logic.

Perhaps the current Senate is under the illusion that it can choose its successor. If not, why should it issue that declaration, which is clearly an overreach of constitutional, democratic and moral authority?

The leadership of the 11th Senate is the sole prerogative of its members, not that of the 10th. Nothing in our law or the Senate rules authorises the 10th to anoint or restrict the office of the Senate President for a future Assembly.

Upon its formation in June 2027, the leadership of the 11th Senate will be determined by the independent will of the Senators-elect, as provided for in Section 50(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

What the Senate attempted to do was a clear usurpation of the sovereign will of the members of the 11th Senate, occurring months before the general election, which will even determine who is qualified to be called a member.

Bizarre is an understatement. How else can one describe this declaration, which is not only a misnomer but also the first of its kind in the history of the Nigerian Senate? It was a brazen attempt to legislate for an Assembly that had not yet been constituted. This was unprecedented in the history of Nigeria’s National Assembly.

Everything about the declaration is wrong, and no amount of gaslighting can change that fact. Regardless of what the senators will say, it is an anti-democratic move that seeks to intimidate prospective aspirants.

But the real danger in the senators’ declaration is that it risks creating a de facto life presidency in the legislature, stifling internal party and inter-party competition and undermining both the Constitution and Senate rules.

No National Assembly in Nigerian history has ever declared that there is no vacancy for its successor. How the current Senate can find nothing wrong with doing so defies reason.

Every Senate leadership from the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Senates emerged through contest and negotiation, not coronation. If the 9th Senate under Ahmed Lawan had declared a no-vacancy, would the current Senate leadership have had the opportunity to lead their peers?

If previous senates’ leadership did not emerge through coronation and they did not make the no-vacancy declaration, what makes the 10th Senate different to justify making such a declaration?

There is something that every right-thinking Nigerian sees, which perhaps the 10th Senate does not. The no-vacancy declaration ridicules the Senate as an institution and shows that the nation now faces a National Assembly that, instead of safeguarding the independence of the legislature, is seeking to mortgage the independence of the next Assembly.

All Nigerians of conscience must condemn this despicable act. It is undemocratic. As a newspaper, we believe nothing is more baffling than the deafening silence from civil society and the opposition political parties, who failed to speak out against this brazen rape of democracy.

There is still a chance to remedy the situation. The Senate should immediately rescind that decision. We demand an immediate retraction from the leadership of the 10th Senate.

We condemn this decision by the Akpabio-led Senate and demand its immediate and unconditional reversal. There is a vacancy in the leadership of the 11th Senate. Until the Senate is formally inaugurated in June 2027 and elects its leadership, no one should deceive themselves or attempt to deceive Nigerians into believing there is no vacancy.