Was Lawan a stranger to Nigerians before emergence as Senate President?

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/was-lawan-a-stranger-to-nigerians-before-emergence-as-senate-president/

By Ola Awoniyi

I might have titled this piece “Re: Once again, most legislators will not return to National Assembly,” because it was prompted by an article under that title written by the highly respected academic, rights activist and columnist, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, and published by some media outfits on Friday, June 17, 2022. However, I decided otherwise because Prof. Ibrahim’s commentary, as usual, made many points that I consider valid and thus have no issue with.

But an aspect of the article is capable of leaving the reader with a wrong impression, and that is what I have set out here to correct. Which means this piece is actually not a rejoinder, in the full sense of that word, to the article by the good professor. Just an amendment to it, as they would have described this effort of mine in Parliament.

The focus of Prof. Ibrahim’s article was the stranglehold of state governors on their political parties in their states and how this continues to reflect in the high turnover of lawmakers, especially in the National Assembly.

The writer mentioned the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as one of a few lawmakers who have had long tenures in the National Assembly, despite the harsh political atmosphere, he observed. His misstep was in how he explained Lawan’s survival.

Prof. Ibrahim wrote: “The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, is the most spectacular exception that breaks the rule. He has been in the National Assembly since 1999, first in the House of Representatives and subsequently in the Senate. For some reason, successive governors of Yobe State have always given him the green light to stay on. I wonder why. 

Could it be linked to his style and record of being unobtrusive and inconspicuous as a legislator who did nothing and was, therefore, perceived as non-threatening? What is clear is that, until he became the Senate President, hardly anyone noticed him. He was discovered when he became Senate President three years ago and then broke the Richter scale of political ‘arrivism’ when the APC chairman announced him to be the ‘presidential’ choice of President Buhari.”