Revised rules block first‑term senators from contesting top leadership roles, tightening eligibility for presiding and principal offices in the 11th National Assembly.
Abuja: The Senate has amended its standing rules, shutting out first‑term senators from vying for principal or presiding offices in the 11th National Assembly.
This followed the presentation of a motion by Deputy Leader of the Senate, Sen. Lola Ashiru (APC-Kwara), at plenary on Tuesday after a closed-door session that lasted for close to three hours.
The amended rule includes Orders 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.
The ranking continues with: (v) Senators who have been members of the House of Representatives, and (vi) if none of the above is available, Senators elected into the Senate for the first time.
Aside from the ranking order used to reduce the window of eligibility among senators–elect vying for the presiding positions, 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 the current 10th Senate would not be eligible to contest for presiding officers’ positions in the 11th Senate.
The presiding officers in the Senate are the President of the Senate and the Deputy President of the Senate, while the principal officers are the Senate Leader, the Deputy Senate Leader, the Chief Whip and the Deputy Whip of the Senate.
Others are minorities. Other principal officers are the Minority Leader, the Deputy Minority Leader, the Minority Whip, and the Deputy Minority Whip.
