The ambition of Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, to become Senate President in the 9th National Assembly has received a boost as three Senators from Kano state on Friday endorsed his candidacy.

The three Senators from Kano Barau Jubrin, Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya and Malam Ibrahim Shekrau threw their weight behind Senator Ahmed Lawan’s candidacy.

They described him as eminently qualified to occupy the exalted seat going by international parliamentary best practices.

Senator Barau Jubrin, who is the secretary of Ahmed Lawan Campaign Organisation, led other members of the campaign train to the residence of Senator-elect, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau who also endorsed Lawan.

Among those who visited Kano with the Senate Leader include Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) chairman, Ahmed Lawan Campaign Organisation; Senator Danladi Sankara, who is the Senator-elect for Jigawa North-West Senatorial District; Senator Bello Maudiya (Katsina South); Senator Solomon Adeola Olamilekan (Lagos West); Senator Degi-Eremienyo (Bayelsa East) and Senator Lekan Mustapha (Ogun East).

Jubrin said: “The National Assembly leadership is elected based on international parliamentary best practices.

“In every parliament, leaders are elected based on ranking, based on experience and once a parliament goes by election and the party that gets the majority in that election produces the leader, and in this case, the majority leader in such a parliament automatically becomes the Senate President or the Speakers, as the case may be.

“Now, Ahmed Lawan is the current leader and he will be the oldest Senator, the most ranked Senator in the 9th Senate.

“He was a two-time members of House of Representatives and four-time member of the Senate.

“So, he is the most experienced and most ripe for the job of the Senate presidency going by intentional parliamentary best practices.”

Shekarau said: “I am so highly honoured to be visited by this high-powered delegation led by the leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan.

“I am now a Senator-elect and I pray the 9th National Assembly will be a very peaceful and smooth one, where we will all join hands together to move Nigeria forward.

“I also congratulate you for aspiring to lead the National Assembly. It is one thing to be there, it is another thing to be identified as a leader.

“It is a challenge and we are all proud of the fact the it is one of those that we have known before that is aspiring to lead the National Assembly.

“I believe you have all what it takes to lead the National Assembly. We are already your canvassers whether you are around or not, you need not to be out to it, or recruit us to do it. We understand where need to go and who needs to have the responsibility to lead us.

“It is not that you a super-person among all the rest, but one thing is that you are the first among all the equals and I believe that with all the other experienced people around, you will be able to give Nigeria, a Senate that everybody will be very proud of.”

Lawan said they were in Kano to solicit for the support of Shekarau, whose wealth of experience he said is much needed to move the 9th Senate forward.

In a chat with reporters, Adeola explained further why Senator Ahmed Lawan should be elected as the new Senate President of the 9th Assembly.

According to him: “Senator Ahmed Lawan has been an experienced lawmaker. He has been around since 1999.

“He is a very distinguished Nigerian, with wealth of experience in the business of lawmaking.

“Senator Lawan has over the years distinguished himself as a Nigerian who is detribalized, who believes in the principles of fairness and equity, and fair-play.

“He is one Nigerian that holds the sanctity of this nation in a very high esteem. Aside that, Senator Lawan is the current leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and in accordance with international parliamentary best practices, as it is obtained in other parts of the world, when you have the leader of the National Assembly, whether in the House of Representatives or the Senate, it is only right for him to transit when his party is the majority party.”

•Sourced from The Nation report

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