Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila will be bowing out by June as the Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives respectively. Constitutionally, it has been provided in S. 50(1)(a&b) that there shall be a president and deputy president of the Senate and speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, hence that position as a matter of constitutional provision must never be vacant no matter what.
The NWC of the All Progressive Congress, the ruling party had anointed Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state to step into the shoes of Ahmed Lawan and Deputy Senate President zoned to the North West, with Senator Barau Jubrin of Kano anointed to fill in the Deputy Senate president position. Speaker, House of Representatives North West-Hon. Abass Tajudeen (Kaduna); Deputy Speaker (South East), Hon. Ben Kalu (Abia).
According to the long-standing tradition of the National Assembly or what they refer to as the standing order, lawmakers serving two or more terms are to be elected or selected as Presiding officers. This is to say that only ranking lawmakers are eligible to contest for leadership positions in the parliament. This is one of the major factors that determine who emerges as Senate president, his deputy and Speaker and his deputy.
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Aside from this rule of ranking; other factors play a critical role in determining those who emerge as principal officers of the Senate; it includes federal character; this is to say that in determining the parliamentary leadership, the federal character is to be taken into consideration;
There is also the factor of rotation; this unspoken rule also plays a heavy part. Sometimes leadership is to be rotated from one region to the other. It is not just an unspoken rule, it is enshrined in some political parties’ constitutions that powers or some positions are to be rotated regionally.
There is also the factor of Individual contributions to the presidential/general elections; party members contribute largely in terms of finance or resource during the election so as to be compensated with one elective role or the other. Politics is a game of interest and never charity. The selection of principal officers in the parliament also serves as a way of compensation to heavy contributors.
Party man/ party loyalty; who is likely to bend to the whim and caprices of the party. A party will never allow a person who is always at loggerheads with the party to emerge as a consensus candidate or a principal officer in the parliament.
There is also the factor of power balancing; Balancing power amongst different ethnic groups and religious affiliations.
Consolation and fulfillment of promises. People are sometimes given other political positions as consolation prices. Some party men stood down and threw their weight of support to an emerging candidate during presidential primaries because they were either promised or given money, or promised positions in either cabinet or the parliament.
These and many more are some of the selfish factors that will play a huge role in deterring who emerges as the president of the senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives and other principal officers in the 10th assembly.