The proverb/saying: “When we are young, we try to change the world, when we are old, we try to change the youth,” has several lookalikes in English writings and in African societies. It speaks to the changing nature of man and how perspectives change with age. Surprisingly, its author remains anonymous, even though there are attempts to link it with global greats like George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. The idea behind that saying is clear enough: When you are young, you think you can change the world to act your way, and when you are old, you try to focus on moulding the next generation.
The reality of that saying is playing out in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria right now. Before we go into that, let’s delve into a bit of background.
One cool evening in June 2015, I got a call from a close colleague that some of us were expected to meet some senators in Zone E, Apo Legislative Quarters. On getting to the location, it happened to be the residence of Senator James Manager, the most ranking Senator from the South-South at the time. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had 49 senators, had emerged second best to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 58 senators. With the PDP zoning the Minority Leader position to the South-South, the onus was on James Manager to take over the slot that naturally belonged to him. As we arrived at the venue, the South-South Senators were just rounding off a meeting of the caucus, and we were not left in doubt as to the agenda-Senate Minority Leader position. A few of the lawmakers left the venue, which was oozing huge scents of some sumptuous meal, and Senator Manager, Akpabio, and a few others stayed back to brief us. Manager cleared his throat and delved into his very rich pool of Africa’s old man sense. He told us that in African culture, the elders must not always lead from the front and that on certain occasions, the elders create room for the young to also provide leadership. He said that with that thinking, he was yielding the position of Senate Minority Leader, which obviously belonged to him, to his younger brother, Godswill Akpabio, a first timer in the Senate. Since he had communicated his decision to the caucus and the decision was set to be communicated to the PDP headquarters, the journalists could only ask a few questions. One of the key questions of the day was how a newcomer in the chamber would successfully lead the business of the Senate, especially the minority wing.
Though Akpabio emerged as the Senate Minority Leader as a first timer, against the rules of the Senate at the time (but in difference to the wishes of the minority caucus), it did not take long before the cracks began to show. The former governor of Akwa Ibom State came under persistent obstructions by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Police, which claimed to be investigating one Akwa Ibom-related financial crime or another. Eventually, he resigned his position as Minority Leader, paving the way for the Minority Caucus to elect Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe as their leader.
Right now, Akpabio, who was a beneficiary of James Manager’s magnanimous elderly sense, is seen as the protagonist in the bid to alter the direction of the wind, as far as the march toward the 11th Senate is concerned. When we are young, we truly try to change the world, when we are old, we do try to change the youth, so the saying goes.
The Senate and its President, Godswill Akpabio, have been in the news majorly because of attempts to amend the Senate Standing Orders 2023 (as amended) between May 5 and May 7. The altercation between the President of the Senate and the former governor of Edo State, who represents Edo North Senatorial District in the Red Chamber, Adams Oshiomhole, was instructive. Oshiomhole had taken up arms and raised a ‘Point of Order’ as Akpabio went through the ritual of adoption of the Votes and Proceedings of the sitting of May 5. The Edo lawmaker’s interjection was to enable him to protest what he saw as injustice in the fast, emerging pre-emptive attempt to shut out prospective aspirants to the Senate Presidency or the leadership positions in the 11th Senate in 2027 via the amendments being pushed by Akpabio.
Oshiomhole had to remind the chamber that by the new rule, Akpabio would not even qualify to occupy the Senate Presidency in 2027, because he would not have served two terms of four years each as prescribed by the new amendment. At a stage, Akpabio threatened to invoke his power to interpret the rules as provided by the Senate Standing Orders 2023, when he said: “Senator Osholmhole, don’t get unruly in the Senate. If you get unruly, we will use the Senate rules to get you out.” The argument between him and Oshiomhole had practically degenerated because the Edo State senator, just like Akpabio, was playing into the future.
It is an open secret that in 2027, Akpabio and his deputy, Jibrin Barau, are nursing the hope of replicating the feat only so far achieved by Senate President David Mark, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the 6th and 7th Senate. Mark and Ekweremadu entered the record books as the President of the Senate and the deputy who got re-elected to the same position consecutively in 2007 and 2011. Indeed, Ekweremadu later made more names by being the only Nigerian to have occupied the seat of deputy senate president on three consecutive occasions, when he was elected in 2015 (8th Senate) as deputy to Senate President Bukola Saraki.
In an attempt to pre-empt history, Akpabio, who initially attempted the rule change in August 2023, but was resisted by some senators at the time, apparently because the ruling party lacked the kind of total control it now exhibits in the chamber, at the time, altered the Senate rules.
Before the 2026 amendments introduced by Akpabio’s Senate, every senator became ranking after completing a full term of four years in the chamber. Further ranking is then calculated based on how many times a senator has been previously elected. But in the rule change effected on the 2023 Standing Orders, a senator aspiring to become the president of the Senate or Deputy President of the Senate must have served two terms of eight years in the chamber, one of which must be the four years preceding the session in which he hopes to contest the election. According to the Senate Standing Orders 2026,, a senator seeking the office of the Senate President or Deputy Senate President must have served for two terms of eight years, one of which must be the “immediate” session preceding the election he intends to contest.
In like manner, those seeking to emerge as Principal Officers (Senate Leader, Deputy Leader, Senate Whip, Deputy Whip, Minority Leader, Minority Whip, and their deputies must have served for at least a term of four years in the session “immediately” preceding the election.
The rule change on Order 3(3), which deals with ‘Eligibility of Senators to contest election as presiding officers’, reads: “A Senator shall not be eligible to contest as Presiding Officer in an election unless he has been elected and served as a Senator for at least two terms of eight years, one term of which shall immediately precede such election.”
On the Principal Officers, the new rule contained in Order 3(4) reads: “A Senator shall not be eligible to be appointed as a Principal Officer of the Senate unless he has served as a Senator for at least a term of four years immediately preceding such an appointment.”
The Senate also approved that nominations to positions shall strictly follow the ranking rule in the following order; former president of the Senate; former deputy president of the Senate; former principal officers of the Senate; senators who had served for at least one term of four (4) years; and senators who had been members of the House of Representatives. In the previous Standing Orders of the Senate, the ranking rule was not done in recognition of positions previously held but in recognition of previous elections into the Senate.
In the estimation of Senator Oshiomhole and many others, the rule change was targeted at preserving the current leadership of the chamber in the 11th Senate, in expectation that the incoming assembly would be controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The new rule would effectively shut out the likes of Oshiomhole, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, who dragged the position with Akpabio in 2023, and Senator Hope Uzodinma, incumbent governor of Imo State, who is expecting a return to the chamber, and has been linked with taking a shot at the senate presidency.
Though Oshiomhole’s lone ranger voice in the forest appeared to have been crowded out by a conspiracy of the majority, what the Edo-born Senator was saying resonates closely with Akpabio’s reality.
Whatever the 10th Senate does, in trying to lay what they believe would be the right foundation for the incoming 11th Senate, we would need to remind the architects that the Red Chamber is first a house of politics and then, a house of rules. Processes are the ingredients that oil that wheel. Whoever would emerge as the Senate President would not do so, just because of the rules. He must first play politics and then observe the rules. The chamber is empowered to modify its rules, but on the day of the election of the Senate President and his deputy, the rules cannot be interpreted because the man who would preside over the election is not a Senator. He is the Clerk to the National Assembly, who is not empowered by the law to interpret Senate or House of Representatives rules on the inaugural sitting. Those who will participate in the election are all Senators-elect, not senators. So, there would be no room to recognise anyone as either former Senate president or former Senate leader.
The rules on ranking were there in 2007, yet ex-Governor George Akume, a first timer, was nominated. He got 36 votes out of 108.
In 2023, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, another first timer, was nominated to challenge Akpabio for the seat. He gave the Senate president a good fight. So, the rules matter, but you must get your politics right.
