The Discourse Senate President: Ndoma-Egba’s Unreasonable Reasoning

ba said, “But for the senate president, I am very clear in my mind that it should go to the south-east” as this “will ensure that the geographical zones were well represented.”

As if to reassure and convince himself further, Sen. Ndoma-Egba added that “from what we have heard so far, history, precedents, equity, and fairness are on the side of the south-east.” How so?

The senator’s predica on of the Southeast geopoli cal region to produce the next Senate President on “history, precedents, equity, and fairness” are paradoxically the same reasons why the Senate President cannot, and should not, come from the Southeast region.

“Ceding the Senate President by the All Pro gressives Congress (APC) to the South South geopolitical region is not only the right thing to do but it would also be seen that the right was being done. Ndoma Egba’s reasons for looking in the direction of the Southeast for the Senate President to emerge smacks of unreasonable reasoning.”

NOT wan ng to be le out of what shape, color, texture, content, and context should dominate in the the10th Na onal Assembly, perhaps in his capacity as a prominent poli cal elite and a former principal officer of the Na onal Assembly to boot, the former senator from Cross River State Mr. Victor Ndoma-Egba decided to weigh in on which of the country’s geopoli cal region should produce the next Senate President during a television interview a few days ago. Without any equivoca on, Sen. Ndoma-Egba pitched his tent with the Southeast region.

It was fair enough as the former senator have the inalienable right to not only endorse the region whence the next Senate President should be issued, but he can also suggest a par cular senatorelect from the southeast that suits his fancy to become the next Senate President. He fell short of doing that, thanks for li le mercies.

Hois ng the southeastern flag for the Number 3 posi on in the country’s democra c arrangement Senator Ndoma-Eg-

The historical antecedent as a basis for the emergence of the Senate President advanced by Sen. Ndoma-Egba in the interview has been one of the tragedies of this poli cal dispensa on which has exacerbated the country’s fault lines, especially in the be er-forgo en Obasanjo era that reeked of reckless impunity as it was also devoid of democra c ethos. It is a history that should not repeat itself otherwise it becomes a farce.

The country would do well to forget the unilateralism and despo c predilecon that characterized the emergence of Senate Presidents under former president Olusegun Obasanjo which Mr. Ndoma-Egba is now trying to pass down to us as history. It should be resisted.

In the same vein, there’s absolutely nothing ennobling or to be proud of in a one-legged precedent that completely shut out the South-South geopoli cal zone of the Senate Presidency since the beginning of this dispensa on which the former senator now wants the Nigerian people to embrace. Again, these convoluted and hollow precedents should have a permanent place in the refuse dump.

It’s o en said that he who comes into equity must come with clean hands. We make bold to say that it’s never in the character of the Southeast to embrace equity in ma ers of shared interests. A er all, where was the equity when, in the last 24 years when the fourth repub- lic began, at no me, not even for a day, did the South-South have the privilege of si ng on the Number 3 seat? e-mail : osundefender@yahoo.com osundefenderbank@gmail.com

Whereas five senators from the Southeast extrac on had been Senate Presidents including the Jonathan era when they also laid the claim that the former president is Igbo because his name is “Ebele” with whom they were well pleased. The Southeast should not feature in the equa on for the next Senate President, lest they begin to feel that the exalted seat is their exclusive preserve.

If, according to Harold Dwight Lasswell, poli cs is all about who gets what, when, and how much, then the true meaning of fairness would be lost if the South-South is denied the privilege, once again, to produce the next Senate President based not on emo on, but the superla ve votes they contributed to the victory of the presidentelect and the APC party that dwarfed the votes from the southeast region a hundredfold.

All correspondence to the above email addresses.

Therefore, ceding the Senate President by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the South-South geopoli cal region is not only the right thing to do but it would also be seen that the right was being done. Ndoma-Egba’s reasons for looking in the direc on of the Southeast for the Senate President to emerge smacks of unreasonable reasoning.

•FEMI ODERE is a pulicy analyst.