S’West may get the next Deputy Senate President

Its expostulated that the South-West geo-political zone would produce
the next Deputy Senate President based on the ranking rule of the
upper chamber which gives preference to returning senators.
An extensive analysis of the incoming 8th Senate indicated that with
a simple majority in the chamber, the All Progressives Congress'
members are expected to emerge as, Senate President; Deputy Senate
President; Senate Majority Leader; Chief Whip; Deputy Majority Leader
and Deputy Chief Whip.
A higher senator, who preferred anonymity, told the source that the
APC Senate Caucus members were pushing for the Deputy Senate President
slot to be filled by the South-West since the North-Central and the
North-East were currently battling to produce the Senate President.
He said South-South and the South-East would only produce the Minority
Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority
Whip because none of the senators from the zone, either new or old,
was a member of the APC which would constitute the majority in the 8th
Senate.
He said the North-West was expected to fill the slot of the Senate
Leader, because there were many ranking APC senators from the zone.
But further investigations by a source in Abuja revealed that there
was a simmering battle among members of the incoming 8th Senate, as
some new entrants were allegedly insisting that the ranking rule be
set aside during the composition of the Senate leadership.
A ranking senator confided in a source on Monday that some fresh
senators, believed to have strong godfathers were also lobbying party
elders to be elected as principal officers.
The returning senators, he added, were however insisting on the
application of Senate Standing Orders 2011 (as amended) during the
inauguration of the 8th Senate on June 4.
The rule stipulates that any senator who has been elected and has been
re-elected into the chamber, has advantage over a member who is newly
elected into the chamber.
Chapter II (2) of the Senate rules specifically removes any ambiguity
about the status of Senators in the chamber.
The rule titled, "Election of presiding and other officers states that
in determining ranking states that, "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; and
(iii) Senators elected as Senators for the first time."
Based on this ranking rule, only senators who had been re-elected
based on the number of times he had won elections in to the Senate,
are expected to form the nuclei of the leadership.
Attempts to find out details of the meeting allegedly held in Abuja by
the APC Senate Caucus were unsuccessful as some of the senators
contacted denied knowledge of the meeting.
For instance, Senator Robert Boroffice (Ondo North) said, "I am in
Ondo State at the moment. We are resuming tomorrow (Tuesday), and I
don't have any invitation to attend any meeting."
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