The Senate has again amended its standing rules, technically eliminating the chances of eligibility for fresh senators–elect in the upcoming 11th National Assembly to aspire for principal and presiding positions.
The amendment followed the presentation of a motion by Deputy Senate Leader, Lola Ashiru (APC-Kwara), at plenary on Tuesday after a closed-door session that lasted for close to three hours.
The amended rule includes Order 4 and 5 of the Senate standing rules.
The amended Order 4 states: “Nomination of senators to serve as Presiding Officers shall be in accordance with the ranking of Senators and shall be strictly adhered to.
“The order of ranking is (i) Former President of the Senate (ii) Former Deputy President of the Senate, (iii) Former Principal Officers of the Senate, (iv) Senators who had served at least one term of four years.
“(v) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives (vi). In the absence of i to v, Senators elected into the Senate for the first time.”
The Senate also inserted an additional provision in Order 5 to prevent new lawmakers from contesting for principal offices in the upcoming 11th Senate.
The order states: “A senator shall not be eligible to contest for any principal office of the Senate unless he has served as a senator for at least two consecutive terms immediately preceding nomination.”
This means that senators who were not in the 9th and current 10th Senate would not be eligible to contest for presiding officers’ positions in the 11th Senate.
The presiding officers in the Senate are President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate, while Principal officers are the Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip of the Senate.
Others are Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip.
