Although the Presidency on Friday said it has no special interest in who emerges as leaders of the ninth National Assembly to be inaugurated in June, Huhuonline.com can now report that President Muhammadu Buhari has tacitly endorsed Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of All Progressive Congress (APC), National Leader, Bola Tinubu to replace Dr. Bukola Saraki as the next Senate President.
Senator Tinubu, who just won re-election to represent Lagos Central constituency on the platform of the APC, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that she deserved to be a principal officer in the 9th Senate. The former First Lady of Lagos State spoke after she was presented her Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). She said it was time for women to come together and support each other, noting that any woman who is in a position should be there for other women. According to her, “Wherever God has placed you, the next woman on the street is your sister, is your daughter, is your mother. One is speaking but you are speaking for all.”
Asked if a woman would be elected as a leader in the Senate, she stated: “The men have to trust us to do that, especially the APC led administration. As it is, women have not been given their fair share and to be the first leader to be reelected for a third term consecutively, the first woman in Nigeria, I think they have to consider what they would give to the woman. “I believe that I have represented the women folk for over twenty years and they can trust me, my office would be open and then we can move the agenda of the women further and I’m looking forward to that,” she added.
Senator Tinubu’s open campaign for the position of Senate President set-off alarm bells across the third rail of Nigerian politics, forcing the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, who insisted in a statement that the presidency will not interfere in the election of presiding and principal officers of the ninth National Assembly.
According to him, the Executive believes in separation of powers, so it will not interfere in the activities of another arm of government which is the legislature. “The legislature is therefore at liberty to do their work especially election of presiding officers the way they like without any interference by the Executive,” Enang further said.
