The tussle for the leadership positions in the incoming 10th National Assembly is heating up, with a lot of alliances happening across party lines.
Some are of the opposition parties, as they push to get a hold of the nation’s polity.
Now, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, says that it is impossible for opposition political party to decide who becomes the Senate President.
Lawan made this known while speaking to State House Correspondents on the sidelines of the Sallah homage by FCT residents to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
No Choice
According to him, the opposition does not have a choice but to work with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The APC is the majority in the National Assembly.
“I don’t think opposition parties are planning to usurp because it is presumptuous that the APC will not be a united party.
“APC is a united party and the opposition party will simply work with the APC majority for us to have stability, because there is no way an opposition will decide who should be the Senate President or who should be the speaker.
“It is our party and other leaders that will decide which zone or whoever, and the rest of us in the party will key in and of course the opposition would have no option but to support.
We Need The Opposition
“I don’t see anything wrong in the opposition talking to us, or we talking to the opposition to ensure that we’re on the same page.
“This is because we need the opposition to ensure that we get most of our constitutional amendments, when the time is right, passed — because we can’t have the 73 in the Senate.
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“You need 73 senators at least for you to have any constitutional amendment.
“So, you would need the opposition. That’s why it is very, very critical.
“It is very essential that you work with the opposition right from the beginning.
“Don’t ever think the opposition should be pushed away.
“I don’t believe in that, I only believe in the very bipartisan chamber because it is more productive,” he explained.
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Furthermore, he believes this kind of National Assembly will make their responsibilities achievable.
“It is more stable, it’s calm, and it gives you the kind of outcome that you will never get with a very rancourous chamber.
“And I’ve seen it, we have done it,” he concluded.
