Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, representing Delta Central Senatorial District, has said President Muhammadu Buhari will be actively involved in the process of selecting the next leadership of the Senate.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri, Omo-Agege said President Buhari and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) will avoid the 2015 mistake that led to the emergence of Bukola Saraki as the president of the Senate.
“Anybody who is going to be Senate president, in the 9th Senate, must be somebody who is loyal to Mr President, the party and the constitution.
“The Senate president will be determined by Mr President. Mr President will indicate to us through the party who he want to work with,” Omo-Agege said.
The APC is set to produce the next Senate president after winning the majority of senatorial seats at the upper legislative chamber in the February 23 election.
Asked if APC has zoned the Senate presidency to any geo-political zone, the lawmaker said “do not know.”
He, however, promised that “we are going to have a Senate that will work with Mr President.”
Senator Saraki was elected on the APC platform in 2015 but was not the party’s choice for the Senate presidency.
The former Kwara State governor, however, colluded with opposition politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to emerge Senate president.
Saraki later led several senators who defected from the APC to the PDP.
“The era of allowing renegades who rode on the back of Mr President, who rode on the back of the party to go in there and trade the party’s mandate, I think that era is gone.
“I am very hopeful that this time around, Mr President will step in and decide not only the zone that will produce the Senate president and the leadership but also who should be.
“We don’t want to erect another opposition leader in the Senate, as we had in the 8th Assembly,” Omo-Agege said.
