At the risk of being immodest and without equivocation, Senator Ahmed Lawan, current Majority Leader in the outgoing Senate, is to all intent and purpose, the man who should lead the 9th Senate which is due to come on board come June.
Truth be told, of the current pack of contenders who have been making some subterranean moves to the Senate Presidency, Senator Lawan, representing Yobe North Senatorial District, stands out of the lot because of the robust legislative experience he has garnered over the years, dating back to 1999 when the country returned to civil rule.
Aside his intimidating legislative acumen spanning two decades and still counting, Senator Lawan, smart and unassuming, has also in the course of his eight-year stint in the Green Chamber before detouring to the Senate in 2007, acquired enough man-management skills that placed in a good stead ahead of others as an excellent manager of men coming from different backgrounds, varied egos, political beliefs, persuasions e.t.c.
With his versatile and diverse knowledge of the National Assembly, it did not come as a surprise to this writer when one political commentator described Lawan as the ‘memory card’ of Senate during a recent television program. And the commentator was right on the money! You only have to encounter him on the floor of the Senate to know what he carries upstairs as far as the business of law making and other allied matters is concerned.
By the way, Senator Lawan, a thorough progressive through and through, did not just find himself by accident within the Nigerian political leadership milieu. He consciously prepared himself for it. And that accounts for why he has shown brilliantly so far. Simply put, he is not an accidental lawmaker.
Before his foray into politics, Lawan got the highest academic degree anyone can acquire: he capped his sterling academic credentials with a PhD in Remote Sensing and GIS from the influential Cranfield University in the United Kingdom and was a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri before leaving the gown(university) for the town(parliament) where, till this day, he has been able to bring his background in scholarship to bear on his legislative works.
Senator Lawan had been prodded to become the Senate President in 2015 by the leadership of the APC having informally zoned the position to the northeast geopolitical zone. But he was not to get the position following the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki who struck a deal with the PDP bloc of the Senate and some APC senators who rebelled against the zoning arrangement of the party.
The emergence of Saraki from Kwara State as Senate President created some internal squabbles within the Senate and also polarized the APC into different tendentious factions. It won’t be a surprise to anyone today if the wounds occasioned by ascension of Dr Saraki as Senate President have truly healed. Even if the wounds are no longer visible, the scars linger on.
In all of these, Lawan, though fiercely independent, did not go against the supreme will of the party even when he could have done so with overtures from the other side. He took his time until he was unanimously elected by his colleagues as Senate Leader following the removal of Senator Ali Ndume from the position.
The contributions of Lawan as the Senate Leader are crystal clear for everyone to see. In the times of peace, he spoke like a born statesman. During tempestuous moments on the floor of the Red Chamber as often seen, he was the rallying figure for rebuilding bridges burnt by his senator colleagues.
“I look for these qualities and characteristics in people. Honesty is number one, respect, and absolutely the third would have to be loyalty.”– Summer Altice
If there be a fourth quality to Altice’s quote above, it should be experience and these four, unequivocally, are domiciled in Ahmad Lawan, senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
For someone who’s spent the last 20 of his 60 years on earth in the National Assembly and helping to make laws for the good governance of the country, Lawan’s honesty of purpose, respect for divergent views, loyalty to and believe in party supremacy as well as proven experience in the business of lawmaking makes him the obvious choice for the legislature’s top job.
First elected to the House of Representatives from Yobe State in 1999, Lawan chaired the House Committees on education and agriculture at different times in his two-term stay in the green chambers.
As they say, the reward for hardwork is more work and Lawan was compensated for his diligence at the House of Representatives, Lawan was sent back to Abuja by his people but, this time, as a senator representing Yobe North Senatorial District in 2007.
It is easy to predicate the call for a Lawan Senate Presidency on his longevity in the legislature but a forensic examination of his legislative acumen, academic qualifications and interpersonal relationships across all divides will show why he towers heads and shoulders above others for the coveted post.
As a staunch party loyalist, he has been a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from onset, never left room for any lingering doubts about where his loyalties and commitments laid even when he felt short-changed by the treachery of those who held the party to ransom against official directives.
As a first time senator, he was made a member of the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Constitution Review in 2008.
In 2009, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Lawan initiated and sponsored the Desertification Control Commission Bill.
Making a case for a Lawan presidency is made easier when one considers how, as Senate Leader, his maturity, leadership style and foresight helped to steady the rocky boat of the APC caucus in the National Assembly when it was easier to throw caution to the wind and partake of the brigandage that characterised the relationship between the NASS leadership and the executive arm of government.
A man imbued with uncommon clarity of purpose already has a vision of what the ideal executive/legislature relationship ought to be: “All in all, the Ninth Senate and by extension the Ninth Assembly will be one, be on the same page with the executive on the next level agenda that will be characterised by robust business of governance and seamless relationship. It will be a Senate that will focus more on productivity for the growth of Nigeria than hostility with any other arm of government.”
Lawan’s calming influence, his ability to network and horse trade across party lines as well as his progressive ideological bent positions him to lead the 9th Assembly.
Lawan’s candidacy ticks all the right boxes, his acceptability across party lines is not in doubt and his managerial ability can only lead to a productive synergy among all the tiers of government.
ABDULLAHI. O. HARUNA writes from Abuja
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