Take religious sentiment out of National Assembly leadership..says senator Jibrin Barau

By Iyojo Ameh

The Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Barau Jibrin has declared his ambition to contest for the position of the Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.

He said this while addressing journalists on Wednesday at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

He said, “The National Assembly has the latitude to regulate its own procedures as a distinct arm of government.

It is clear in the Senate Standing Rule that aspiration or election for the Office of the Senate President shall be in accordance with ranking and most experienced.

“Among those who are seeking to occupy that office, I have the highest ranking and most experienced.

“The issue is that of competence. You need to be grounded in procedures of legislation and other activities of the parliament before becoming the Senate President.

“As we speak, I’m number one among those who are aspiring to become Senate President in terms of experience.

“Will you now relegate competence for other sentiments? There was a time we had a Christian Senate President, David Mark, and the deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, a Christian and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, a Christian. There were the most experienced and ranking at that time. Competence was not relegated for sentiment then.

Bringing religous sentiment won’t fly. It’s about competence not sentiment.
When we talk about experienced, I’m the most experienced.

There is need to reward performance. The North West deserves to produce the Senate President because we gave the President-elect the highest votes.

We want our president to go for second term. We saw what he did in Lagos and want him to replicate that across the country.

In 2015, when President Buhari was declared the winner, he tried to give attention to the area that gave him the highest votes. Key government positions were zoned to the Northwest and North East to reward the people.

On how he survived the NNPP tsunami in Kano , Barau said:

When you are there for the people, you will be victorious on election day no matter the tsunami.

“I was there for them long before election and continue to work hard for my people. I didn’t start reaching out to them few days to election.

Politicians should not think of winning elections by campaigning to the people fee days to election. Be there for your people right from day one.

As Senate President, I will be there for the country, I will work hard for the country until we take it to the level we so desired”, he stressed