FIJ
As the race for the 10th senate presidency continues to gather momentum, quite a handful of newly elected senators from different geopolitical zones have shown interest in becoming the third most powerful man in the country.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), having won 59 out of the 109 seats available, emerged the majority party in the upper legislative chamber. Consequently, the party is expected to produce a new senate president come June.
While some Nigerians have said that the party leadership should seek competence and experience when electing a leader for the top job in the Senate, others have said whoever gets the job should be one that has no controversial past.
Ironically, the frontrunners that have shown interest in taking up the position have controversial pasts.
ORJI UZOR KALU
Orji Uzor Kalu was the Governor of Abia State from 1999 to 2007. In 2019, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Lagos High Court for defrauding the government of Abia State while in office as governor.
Kalu was accused of using Slok Nigeria Ltd., his company, to perpetrate N7.65 billion fraud. He was then detained in Ikoyi Prison in Lagos following a court ruling.
However, in May 2020, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court declared Kalu’s conviction null and void, setting aside the 2019 judgement of Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The apex court stated that Justice Idris was already a justice of the Court of Appeal at the time he delivered the judgment sentencing Kalu. A retrial was ordered by the court and Kalu was released from the Nigerian Correctional Service, Kuje, Abuja, on June 3, 2020.
Orji Uzor Kalu is presently the senator representing Abia North Senatorial District in the ninth national assembly. He also holds a principal position as the chief whip of the Senate.
On February 25, Kalu was once again re-elected by the people of his district for another four-year term. He has since signified interest in becoming Nigeria’s next Senate President.
AHMED LAWAN
On June 11, 2019, Ahmed Lawan was elected and sworn in as the Senate President of Nigeria.
In August 2021, Lawan and other legislators were accused of receiving a $10 million bribe to guarantee the legislation’s passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). Before the allegation was made, the bill had faced significant public opposition, as part of it was deemed controversial.
Lawan would later deny the allegation, stating that the report was unwarranted, unproven and false.
