A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adamu Garba, has expressed support for the North-West geo-political zone to produce the next Senate President, adding that the Senator representing Kano North, Barau Jibrin, was the right man for the job.
According to Garba, the office of the Senate President should not be seen as a retirement home for former governors.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Garba who acknowledged the entrance of other aspirants into the race, said Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, and former minority leader in the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, should not see the Senate as a retirement place.
“The office of the Senate president must not be seen as a retirement home for past governors to while away time, but must be seen as a serious office that will make laws that will shape the destiny of Nigeria and transform the life of its citizens,” Garba said while making a case for Barau Jibrin.
“The horse trading and scheming is currently on as to who becomes the Senate President of the 10th national assembly. If we take the Senate Presidency to the North West, we will consolidate North West much better and mainstream them and make every member of the North West a continuous member of the APC, that would keep guaranteeing us victory in subsequent elections and the only one that has that capacity and competence is Senator Barau Jibrin.
“He is the only Senator that won his Senatorial Seat in Kano, that defeated the Kwankwasiyya movement in his Senatorial district.
“Barau Jibrin has headed, chaired and has been part of several Committees in the Senate and is now the Senate committee chairman on appropriation.
“He was the Northern Senator of the year 2017 by the Nigerian Senate Press Corps.
In October 2022, a Nigerian national honour of Commander Of The Order Of The Niger (CON) was conferred on him by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
“While we are talking about the executive arm of the government, we must also look at the legislative arm and in doing this, we must look at the most competent hand of all the candidates that have shown interest to aspire for the office of the Senate Presidency.
“Because without coordination, a good working relationship that is properly aligned with the mission and programmes of the executive, we will hardly get it right, when you don’t have the right legislation in place. So, that is why personally, I believe that most of the aspirants of the Senate Presidency knows that there is no person that is as qualified as Senator Barau Jibrin.
“Why because of all these kinds of issues of trying to compensate one region because they are part of these or that, if we continue to tow this line as the governance level, we will not get it right.
“We are done with the politics, We have the Presidency from the South, and the vice presidency from the North, let the other team members that are coming to drive the success of this administration come on the basis of there competencies and capacities, and when it comes to National Assembly leadership, we have to look at competence and capacity not regional sentiments or bias, we should look at people that are driven by the Party, people that work for the people, persons that are more competent in Senate rules and businesses, somebody like Senator Barau Jibrin seriously fits this profile,” Garba stated.
