The next upper legislative chamber should look for a Senate President rather than a ‘Senators’ President’, which the nation has been saddled with in recent times, Senator, Borno South, Ali Ndume, has said.
He lamented that the nation’s upper legislative chamber had fallen short of the expectations of most Nigerians, including senators, saying the Senate had become boring.
Speaking with newsmen in Maiduguri on Tuesday, Ndume said it was only fair that the North-East, especially the Borno or Yobe state be allowed to lead the 8th Senate as it had never been given such responsibility.
He lamented that there was so many procedural error in the Senate that had not truly allowed the legislative arm to flourish, lamenting that the affairs of the Senate had been run as if it was an extension of the executive arm, creating a master/servant relationship.
He said the relationship between the Senate leadership and other members should be seen as that of equals or at best, first among equals.
He said this was not the case in the upper legislative chamber, claiming that the influx of former governors into the Senate was responsible for the “turning of the Senate President into Senators’ President”, adding that this must change.
Ndume said the Federal Government and the Chief of Defence staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, should be blamed for the continued detention of the kidnapped Chibok girl, one year after their abduction.
He said if the efforts to rescue the schoolgirls had been taken seriously before now, the girls would have been freed.
