Not less than five former governors are in the race for the Senate presidency, this revealed on Saturday.
They include former governors of Akwa Ibom state, Goodwill Akpabio (APC, Akwa Ibom north west); former governor of Anambra state, Orji Uzor Kalu ( APC, Abia North); former governor of Ebonyi state, David Umahi (APC, Ebonyi South); former governor of Edo state, ( Adams Oshiomhole ( APC, Edo North), and former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, (APC, Zamfara west).
Those returning are former governor of Anambra state, Orji Uzor Kalu ( APC, Abia North), Danjuma Goje ( APC, Gombe Central), Aliyu Wamakko ( APC, Sokoto North), Seriake Dickson ( PDP, Bayelsa west) and Adamu Aliero ( PDP, Kebbi Central).
People Democracy Party PDP won their senatorial election for the 10th Senate, and twelve former governors of both the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
Those who will unite the Senate for the first time are Oshiomhole, former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, Umahi, Yari, and former governor of Gombe state, Ibrahim Dakwambo.
For over the years, Nigeria has been complained that the bed chamber quick becoming retirement home for the past governors.
Sorrowful this, the Director-General the National institute of Legislative studies, Prof Abubbakar Suleiman has said, ” there is away to halt these governors for turning the National Assembly, mostly the Senate, into retirement home.
” I have said this on most of the time and I will continue repeating it; the former governor have not been adding value for what the (lawmakers) do there.
Look at the arrangement of the former governors there, is very difficult to see two or three that have surprise added value.
” After leaving, must you state government, return to the National Assembly as a Senator? It’s under must? Are there no people in your Constituency or state to represent the people?
“As I said earlier, some of them do it out of pomposity”.
They believe that if a Senator is coming (from their senatorial district), they have to put them back.
Meanwhile, an investigation of the 10th senate by Saturday PREDICTORPAUL revealed that out of 109 seats 72 will be occupied for the first timers in senate.
But the Senate president, Ahmed Lawn worried that many of the 10th National Assembly lawmakers had Legislative proficiency, and that will require a lot of money for the training of the lawmakers.
” And I called this costly deliberately because what this stand for is that, the 10th Assembly, we must equip them immediately for capacity building for the new members of the National Assembly if we want to achieve our goals.
“Everyone is ardent, and everybody is ready, we want to come contribute and making our country Nigeria better, but the parliament is not like the executive”.