by Alexander O. Onukwue

It may have been the duty of the Osun West people to send Ademola Adeleke to Abuja as the Senator to represent their district, but it is now the Nigerian people that Ademola, on a broad scale, represents.

He could continue to receive attacks from the Governor and might even be a possible target of mobilized recall, as has been the case in Kogi with Messrs Bello and Melaye. Those aside, Senator Adeleke will now join the discussions and deliberations on national issues, having transcended the Ogbeni politics of his state.

While the Nigerian Senate, as an institution, continues to draw the criticism and resentment of many Nigerians, not every individual Senator has been as luster-less as the greater mass. For every Marafa, there has been a Shehu Sani, while the Abaribes have had their opposite Murray-Bruces. Where side of the divide will Adeleke tilt towards, based on the following six issues:

The Presidential instability

That it is not yet being called a crisis does not make it any less evident that. The aborted motion of July 4th is now old news by one week, but nobody is under any illusions as to what it was intended to prove. Being on the opposition side and a South-Western Senator, Adeleke’s position on the matter of the Presidency will be interesting to monitor

Budgetary Manipulations

Minister of Power and Works, Raji Fashola, ruffled the feathers of big chicks in the red nest when he reprimanded the legislators for replacing high brow projects with the purchase of implements. The Senate has sort to have him clarify and reverse his statements on the matter. Is Adeleke well informed in the matters of legislative responsibility to take the right side on the matter?

Magu renomination

There is not much hope here for him being radical and staying on the left of the argument for Magu’s confirmation as EFCC boss. This, more than anything else, appears to be the major rallying point for which every Senator appears to be united. Will the disrupter be an outlier here?

Of course, Restructuring

What is a Nigerian list of political questions without an item of enquiry about Restructuring? It is the official buzz word of the day, duly employed by politicians in the tense atmosphere of 2017. How will Adeleke use his place to argue for the restructuring of the current system of Governance to favour a more federal union?

The four points above are predicated on the assumption that the new Senator will not just go to Abuja to simply fill in the blanks left by his elder brother, which is possible, but will be regrettable. If he knows the crest on which he rides as the man who has shaken up the political process, albeit at a local level, he will carry it on to Abuja and, not only shake it up too, but raise the roof.