Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi has defended the Senate’s recent amendment of its standing rules, insisting the move was designed to preserve institutional memory, strengthen continuity, and ensure experienced leadership in the upper legislative chamber.
Speaking on Politics Today on Wednesday, Nwebonyi dismissed claims that the amendment was aimed at sidelining any individual or political bloc ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to the lawmaker, the decision reflects the evolving realities of the National Assembly and the growing need for lawmakers with recent parliamentary experience to occupy key leadership positions such as Senate President and Deputy Senate President.
“Well, depending on the angle you are viewing it, the rules were not amended to affect a particular person or targeted at a particular person,” he said.
“What we just did is to retain institutional memory. It is also to ensure continuity. Experience matters because the Senate in 1964 and the Senate in 1999 is not the Senate as it stands today.
“So, we needed somebody who is conversant with recent political developments in the parliament to be able to pilot the affairs of the Senate as the President of the Senate.
“It is not targeted at anybody. It is aimed at ensuring that experience is there because we need an experienced person to lead as Senate President or as Deputy Senate President.”
The amendment, adopted on Tuesday through a voice vote presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, restricts eligibility for presiding and principal offices to senators who have served at least two consecutive terms.
Under the revised rules, only members of the current 10th Senate who win re-election into the 11th Senate in 2027 will qualify to contest for the chamber’s top leadership positions.
The development comes amid growing speculation that several former governors and ex-senators, including Hope Uzodimma, Ifeanyi Okowa, and Ovie Omo-Agege, may be planning a return to the Senate ahead of the 2027 general elections, potentially with ambitions for principal offices in the chamber.
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