Senate President? Hand it to Ahmed Lawan

However, we are grateful to God for giving us the grace to triumph over the forces of darkness at least for once to search for a credible and competent Senate President, Speaker and Ministers not accomplices in the looting business. There was none among the past Presidents from the so called PDP that for once […]

However, we are grateful to God for giving us the grace to triumph over the forces of darkness at least for once to search for a credible and competent Senate President, Speaker and Ministers not accomplices in the looting business. There was none among the past Presidents from the so called PDP that for once chose a Senate President in the interest of the Nigerian project rather it was all but self interest serving and hero worshipping, whereas those who braced up to tackle the Nigerian project were impeached clandestinely until it became the tradition in the Red Chamber to fend for themselves as a survival instinct. Until now we are in a fix where the Senate fosters what seems like a symbiotic existence with the Executive, it is about those who live in the glass house that do not throw stone, both having compromised their constitutional roles of checks and balance.
While recommending Senator Dr Ahmed Lawan to be the next Senate President I took cognizance of the sincerity of the President-Elect into account. I believe that Buhari has taken a solemn oath to sincerely reposition this country and to deal decisively with the menace of corruption which defied logic for decades. In the same vein I took cognizance of the gruesome battles which Senator Ahmed Lawan fights all the years on the floor of the Red chamber against squandermaniacs, kleptomaniacs and many public account managers who are looting our common wealth. By the privilege of his position as the Committee Chairman on Public Accounts in the Red Chamber, Senator Ahmed Lawan uncovers monumental fraud among the MDAs and presents Bills and moves motions to make them face the law. Until now he is regarded as one of the most brilliant law maker in the Red Chamber.
Granted, the expectations from the president-elect are quite high but he must prioritize them, and in that order, the first on the list is to ensure that there is sufficient fund to prosecute his agenda. The fund can never be available without plugging the leakages occasioned by corrupt government officials in particular. This is where Ahmed Lawan comes in as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committe; he has a formidable dossier on Public Account Managers and he can do a lot more to nip corruption in the bud. Ultimately the president-elect cannot fight effective war against corruption without a proactive and an anti-corruption crusader as the President of the Senate which Senator Ahmed Lawan embodies. 
Altogether Dr Ahmed will be clocking 20 years in the National Assembly by the end of this dispensation which makes him the Methuselah of the legislature.
As one who minds his own business, he is very dutiful and a team worker who blends easily with people. He has never for once been accused or suspected of sleaze both in his private life and on the duty post rather he fights hard to expose corrupt officials.
Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan is the most experienced and most ranking Senator in the entire North-East and among the APC Senators. He has experience of the operations of both the upper and lower chambers meaning that he can effectively preside as a Joint Chairman when it becomes auspicious should he become the Senate President.
Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan will be an asset; the wealth of experience which he accumulated in his unbroken chain of legislative duties in the last sixteen years will surely make him an excellent Senate President with an ability to foster a cordial working relationship with the executive arm of government. The president-elect was once a military governor and later became a head of state but never was a legislator; although he has pledged not to interfere in how the National Assembly elects its leaderships, he needs a man of the stature and experience of Dr Ahmed Lawan to realise his agenda much more smoothly.
Since the creation of Yobe State in 1990, there has never been any meaningful appointment other than their slot of ministerial appointment. The federal government has little or no presence in Yobe State and Boko Haram has devastated the little development that was there and should the APC zero in on Yobe State to produce the Senate President, it will portray the APC as a party with a human face.
Chief Okeke is Igbo community leader in Yobe State<[email protected]>