The just concluded general election in Nigeria produced a unique political outcome at the national level with a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket that was thought impossible.
That was the repeat since the first attempt in 1993, when the late MKO Abiola of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and his running mate, Baba Gana Kingibe were elected in an election that was later annulled by the Military Junta of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
With the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 poll, and considering that vice president, Kassim Shettima hails from the North East, there have been clamour for the position of the Senate president in the 10th National Assembly to be zoned to the South East geopolitical zone of the country, for political expediency, national stability and cohesion.
Historically, the Nigeria federation has always rested on the tripod of three dominant ethnic groups of Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. Under the current political dispensation, the Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani which now include Kanuri have produced the president and the vice president.
The imperative of political inclusiveness and arresting the agitation for Biafra in the South East especially among the young people who have been misled into the nefarious activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra and Eastern Security Network (IPOB/ESN), support the zoning of the Senate Presidency to the South East.
Having not produced the president of Nigeria since independence except for the six months of Aguiyi Ironsi as military Head of State in 1966, observers say that the intense Igbo sentiment against political exclusion and marginalisation in Nigeria is justified.
Currently, the South-East has two APC governors in Imo and Ebonyi States while South-South has only one APC governor. The status will remain the same post-May 29 with APC retaining the governorship seat in Cross-River. In the 10th National Assembly, South-East will have six senators and six will also come from the South-South too.
In recent weeks, the battle for the Senate president ahead of the June inauguration has intensified among key politicians in Nigeria with interested Senators campaigning toward realising their ambition, especially those from South-Eastern Nigeria extraction, but one man that is eminent qualified to lead the senate is Osita Isunazo, the current senator representing Imo West Senatorial District.
Izunazo is an experienced politician, who was at the centre of the political gamesmanship that birthed the APC when the then opposition parties, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Rochas Okorocha came together to form what is today the ruling party in Nigeria.
The Imo senator has paid his dues in APC as a core party man. He was in the merger committee that midwived APC and became the founding National Organising Secretary, a position he held for about five years.
As the Organising Secretary, he managed the 2014 National Convention of the party at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos where the current President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of APC.
The convention had Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Rochas Okorocha as the main challengers of Muhamamdu Buhari for the party’s presidential ticket. The 2014 APC presidential convention has been adjudged as the most transparent party primary ever conducted in the history of Nigeria and Senator Izunaso always beat his chest for doing a great job as the organising secretary under whose purview the responsibility rests.
He was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2003 and elected into the Senate in 2007, where he was Chairman of Senate Committee on Gas and member of other standing committees. As things stand today, Senator Izunaso who is returning to the Senate for the second time, is the most ranking Senator from the South-East and South-South and considers himself the most prepared and most experienced and most qualified to be the next Senate President and lead the 10th National Assembly.
Speaking on his ambition, Izunaso noted that he was the most qualified among those in the Senate presidency race, especially among those aspiring from the South-East.
According to Izunaso, “Among those vying for the Senate presidency, especially from the South, I am the most qualified in terms of service to the party, loyalty and commitment. I was there at the beginning of APC; I am one of the people that were there at the foundation of the party.
“I was in the merger committee put together by the opposition parties that formed the APC. I have laboured hard for the party as the founding National Organising Secretary. In all party assignments, I have discharged them with commitment and unwavering loyalty.”
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While Senator Izunaso contends that other aspirants like Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, Godswill Akpabio, Senator-elect David Umahi, current Governor of Ebonyi who is touted to be an aspirant, have the right to their aspirations, he feels his credentials as a party loyalist are stronger.
“The other people you mentioned came to our party as joiners after we have won the 2015 presidential election against all odds. They actually worked vigorously for the PDP, their party then to win the election.
“If we didn’t fight to win the election in 2015, will APC be the ruling party today? Will they be in our party today to seek to lead the National Assembly? If the office of the Senate President is about who has served and worked faithfully for the party, I am the most qualified,” the Senator-elect said.
In recent weeks, various political and socio-cultural groups have been appealing to the leadership of APC to zone the Senate Presidency to the South East, where Izunaso comes from. Apart from his qualification for the number three job, the former party top official disclosed his mission for the Senate and National Assembly.
In a recent chat with journalists in Lagos, Izunaso promised to rebrand the red chamber and lead the National Assembly in fulfilling the yearnings of Nigerians for the renewed hope agenda for a better Nigeria being promoted by the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I have the experience, education, character, and integrity to lead the Senate to fulfill the Renewed Hope mantra of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu. That is why I have adopted the mantra ‘Hope Assured.’
“Nigerians need to start having trust in the National Assembly and I am that man who stands out with a proven record of integrity, patriotism, and loyalty,” he added. The lawmaker also faulted claims that the South East didn’t support the APC in the 2023 election.
“It is a faulty argument. The data on the ground shows that APC is the ruling party in the South East. APC has two governors while LP, PDP, and APGA have one each. APC is also well-represented in the National Assembly.
“Out of the 15 senators from the zone, APC has 6; LP 6 while PDP, APGA, and YPP have one each. APC is making gains while PDP has been diminished in the South East; so, with the right support, the APC will take over the zone,” he stressed.
Izunaso is a committed patriot and nationalist of the highest order; a core party man, urbane, cosmopolitan in outlook and worldview, competent party administrator, journalist of repute and a lawyer.
Armed with quality education and a political experience that is unique to him, Izunaso met with President Buhari earlier on April 4th, 2023 where he presented his certificate of return as Senator-elect of his Imo West constituency and also informed him of his interest in seeking the top leadership position in the Senate.
The Imo lawmaker graduated from University of Jos in 1989 with a degree in English Language and bagged a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the University of Abuja in 1998.
To further his postgraduate qualifications, he got masters in business administration from University of Calabar. His quest for knowledge and personal development led him to study Law at the Nile University, Abuja where graduated with a First Class Honours. He graduated from the Nigeria Law School Abuja Campus with a second class upper. Izunaso has also bagged a masters degree in Law.
Before his sojourn in politics, Izunaso was a journalist. The Senator has a unique credential that no federal legislator past and present in Nigeria can boast of. He is the only person in Nigeria’s history to ever work as a staff of the two chambers of the National Assembly and later served in both chambers as elected representative of the people.
In 1992, Senator Osita worked as the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Agunwa Anakwe. He also served as the Chief Press Secretary to Senate President, Evans Ewerem with the return of civilian administration in 1999.
He had earlier served as Chief Press Secretary to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Jim Nwobodo from 1995-97 and retained the same position with Minister of Labour and Productivity (1998-1999).
By the time the 10th NASS will open on June 10th, 2023, Senator Osita will be the most ranking Federal lawmaker and Senator from South-East and South-South.
He was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2003 and later into the Senate in 2007. He was a founding member of the All Progressives Congress since 2013 and member of the merger committee of the then opposition parties that formed the APC.
Senator Osita served as Interim National Organising Secretary of APC and elected National Organising Secretary from 2013-2014. He was a member of APC NEC from 2014-2018 among other party leadership positions.
He refused Buhari’s NDDC appointment because section of Act demands appointees must be from the region.
Between 2018 and 2023, Senator Osita served with distinction as Chairman of many party committees and sub-committees including 2014 Convention Planning Committee, North-Central Zone Party Registration and Revalidation Committee in 2020 and Director Presidential Campaign Council, Contact and Mobilisation for South-East for 2023 presidential election.
At the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, he served as Chairman of Committees and member of others; ranging from Rules and Business, Local and Foreign Debts, Housing, Gas, Foreign Affairs and Sports Development. He also sponsored many bills and led debates during plenary sessions.
Senator Osita served as Board Chairman, National Automative Design and Development Council. As philanthropist and Humanitarian, he founded Kpakpando Foundation for persons living with disabilities in 2009.
