The Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said on Friday in Abuja that the opposition cannot predict who will win the top positions in the 10th National Assembly even if the All Progressives Congress no longer commands the same prominence that it once had.
In order to ensure parliamentary stability, he added, the ruling APC must include the opposition parties in its leadership structure.
“There is no way an opposition will decide who should be the senate president or who should be the speaker; it is our party and other leaders that will decide,” Lawan told State House, correspondents after joining residents of the Federal Capital Territory for a Sallah homage to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
I don’t think opposition parties are preparing to usurp because it is presumption that the APC would not be a united party, he responded when questioned about rising concerns that the opposition may capitalize on the alleged divide in the party and take the process.
“The APC is a united party and the opposition party will simply work with the APC majority for us to have stability because there is no way an opposition will decide who should be the Senate President or who should be the speaker; it is our party and other leaders that will determine what zone or whoever, and the rest of us in the party will key in and of course, the opposition would have no option but to support.
“I don’t see anything wrong in the opposition talking to us, or we talking to the opposition to ensure that we’re on the same page, because we need the opposition to ensure that we get most of our constitutional amendments when the time is right, passed because we don’t have the 73 in the Senate. So, you need 73 senators at least for you to have any constitutional amendment. So, you would need the opposition.”