Sen Ndume says NASS leadership should be open, not zoned

The senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, Sen Ali Ndume has said that the leadership of the yet-to-be-inaugurated 10th National Assembly should be open and not zoned to geopolitical regions as usual.

According to Ndume, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the Senate President seat is not regionally based but purely a decision to be made by the lawmakers.

When asked if he had an interest in the senate presidency race, Ndume said it was not yet time for him to be the Senate President though the constitution does not stop him from running.

He said that even though his party produced the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu from the South-West zone and the Vice-President-Elect, Kashim Shettima from the North-East, it does not stop lawmakers from the two zones from aspiring for the leadership of the incoming 10th National Assembly.

In his words, “For me, the leadership of the National Assembly should be open in the first instance.

“The Senate President is not supposed to be a regional President; it’s a Senate President of the Nigerian Senate.

“We have 109 senators. The leadership emergence is not clearly stated. Section 50 of the constitution states that the Senate President shall be elected among the members.”