Less than three weeks before he is to stand for re-election as Senate President, Senator David Mark yesterday began to push through an amendment to the Senate standing rules that will exclude all his potential challengers from standing against him for the nation’s Number Three office. The proposed rules seek to exclude first term lawmakers from contesting for positions of Principal Officer or other key posts in the chamber on the day of its inauguration early next month.

Under the new rules, only Senators Mark and Bello Hayatu Gwarzo will be eligible for Senate President and since Gwarzo has indicated no interest, Mark would stand unopposed.

The motion for the amendments, to be moved by Senate Leader Teslim Folarin, seeks to introduce a new section in the Senate Rules that gives preference for ranking senators based on number of years spent in the Senate in the contest for Presiding Officers, Principal Officer’s position and other key offices in the chamber.

The proposed amendment provides that “Nominations of senators to serve as Presiding Officers and appointments of Principal Officers and other officers of the Senate or any parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators.

“In determining ranking, the following order shall apply (i) Senators returning based on number of times re-elected (ii) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives (iii) Senators who have been members of a state House of Assembly or any other legislative House (iv) Senators elected as senators for the first time.”

The Senate also proposed to delete Rule 97(1) (f) which provides that “nomination of senators to serve as Principal Officers and Chairmen of committees or on any parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of Senators in which member(s) previously elected intothe Senate are granted precedence.”

By the proposed provision, only Senators David Mark [PDP, Benue South] and Bello Hayatu Gwarzo (PDP, Kano) who have been reelected to a fourth consecutive Senate term will enjoy preference in any contest for the office of Senate President. It is only when none of them is aspiring that the next category in terms of ranking are to be considered.

The immediate implication of the new rule is to knock out incoming senators Muhammadu Danjuma Goje, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Abdul Abdu Ningi and Muhamed Kumalia, all of whom are known to be interested in the Senate President’s office. Even though the coast was somewhat cleared for Mark when the PDP’s national caucus retained its old zoning formula which zoned the Senate Presidency to Mark’s native North Central zone, his camp still had fears that Saraki is also from the same zone. There are also fears in his camp that incoming senators, 40% of whom belong to political parties other than PDP, may shun the zoning formula in the choice of Senate President, hence the move to further checkmate Mark’s opponents.

The outgoing Senate is also proposing an amendment to Rule 111 of the Standing Order which seeks to ensure continuity of legislative activities from one session to another. Bills’ progression and other legislative work usually die with the termination of the life of the session.

But the Senate is proposing a new Section 111 that provides that “the legislative business of the Senate which remains undermined at the close of a session of the Senate shall be resumed and proceeded with in same manner as if no adjournment of the Senate had taken place; and all papers referred to committees and not reported upon at the close of session of the Senate shall be returned to the office of the Clerk of the Senate and retained until the next session of the Senate when they shall be returned to the several committees to which they had previously been referred.”

If passed, the first amendment will shut out all first time senators from contesting to occupy the position of Presiding Officers and other principal offices. The contest could also be based on number of times a senator has won re-election.

The motion listed on the Senate notice paper is scheduled for consideration Tuesday.

Of the four men known to be interested in Mark’s post, outgoing Kwara governor Bukola Saraki has no legislative experience, but both Ningi and Kumalia have been members of the House of Representatives.

As for outgoing Gombe State governor Goje, he was a member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic.

.http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19120:senate-presidency-mark-rigs-the-rules&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Its politics, a lovely game. It makes sense to me.