Nigerian Senate Resumes Plenary On Tuesday

The Nigerian Senate will resume plenary on Tuesday after the Eid Al-Adha holiday.

Majority and minority leaders are expected to emerge as the upper chamber resumes.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), with the largest number of members, is expected to produce the majority leader, while the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will produce the minority leader.

APC has 59 senators; PDP has 36; Labour Party (LP) eight; Social Democratic Party (SDP) two; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) two; Young Peoples Party (YPP) one and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) one.

This shows that seven political parties make up the membership of the 10th Senate, with 50 as opposition members.

The ruling APC and the minority caucus are also expected to fill the vacant eight principal positions.

While APC is expected to produce the majority leader, the deputy majority leader, the chief whip and the deputy chief whip, the four principal positions reserved for the minority caucus are the minority leader, the deputy minority leader, the minority whip and the deputy minority whip.

PDP, being the major opposition party, is expected to produce the minority leader, deputy leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.

Nominations for the positions are purely the affairs of political parties with the majority of seats in the Senate.

The major contenders for the Senate majority leader’s seat include Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele (APC-Ekiti) and Sen. Mohammed Ndume (APC-Borno).

The duo were among the arrowheads of Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s campaign for the senate presidency.

Ndume served as the director-general of Akpabio’s campaign committee, while Bamidele was the deputy.

Also, Sen. Adamu Aliero (PDP-Kebbi) and Sen. Aminu Tambuwal (PDP-Sokoto) are contenders for the minority leader seat. 

NAN/N.O