Buhari Will Decide Senate Presidency — Omo-Agege

The senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege says President Muhammadu Buhari will be actively involved in the process of selecting the next leadership of the Senate.

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri, Omo-Agege said the President and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) would avoid the 2015 mistake that led to the emergence of Sen. Bukola Saraki as the president of the Senate.

‘‘Anybody who is going to be Senate President, in the 9th Senate, must be somebody who is loyal to Mr President, the party and the constitution.

‘‘The Senate President will be determined by Mr President. Mr President will indicate to us through the party who he want to work with,’’ Omo-Agege said.

The ruling APC is set to produce the next Senate president after winning the majority of senatorial seats at the upper legislative chamber in the Feb. 23 election.

Asked if APC has zoned the senate presidency to any geo-political zone, the lawmaker said ‘‘I do not know.’’

‘‘But what I can tell you is that we are going to have a Senate that will work with Mr President.

‘‘The era of allowing renegades who rode on the back of Mr President, who rode on the back of the party to go in there and trade the party’s mandate, I think that era is gone.

‘‘I am very hopeful that this time around, Mr President will step in and decide not only the zone that will produce the Senate president and the leadership but also who should be.

‘‘We don’t want to erect another opposition leader in the Senate, as we had in the 8th Assembly.

‘‘There are a lot of us in the Senate who are returning to the next senate who fits into that position. We are so many but any decision the President makes, we will all fall in line and abide.

‘‘We want President Buhari to succeed and it is all in our place, some of us who are close to him, to tell him certain calls he should not make because we know ourselves in the National Assembly and we do not want a repeat of the Saraki saga as we go back to the ninth Senate.’’ he said.

Speaking on the upcoming Saturday’s election, Omo-Agege said the APC stood a chance to win the March 9 governorship elections in Delta, saying ‘‘Delta people are determined not to be in the opposition again.’’