Following the uproar generated by the zoning of the principal offices of the National Assembly, the Nigeria National Integrity Group (NNIG) has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to retain the present leadership in the senate for the next administration.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Joseph Ode the spokesperson for the group said the call has become imperative to guide against any form of acrimony in the ruling party that will affect the administration of the President elect.
Ode flanked by other members of the group noted that the polity has been heated up by the strident calls for and against the APC’s endorsement of the sensitive positions in the legislature, adding that bearing in mind the astute and altruistic style of the current leadership of the Nigerian Senate, we hereby submit unequivocally that the current Senate Leadership should be adopted across party lines to be reelected into office in the overall national interest.
The group said the very serious issue of the Leadership of the National Assembly should not be subjected to the whims and caprices of self-styled party bigwigs since these demanding positions require the right calibre of leaders and statesmen to ensure and enhance the delivery of the dividends of democracy to Nigeria’s teeming long suffering masses.
He therefore said the retention of the Senator Ahmed Lawan leadership of the National Assembly will “no doubt, foster sustainability, stability and continuity in piloting the affairs of the legislative branch, a critical and vital component of the tripod in the three arms of government.
“There is no denying the fact that the current leadership of the National Assembly under Distinguished Senator Ahmed Lawan has ensured the unprecedented harmonious working relationship between the Executive and Legislative arms of the Federal Government.
“This is a manifest and a most welcome departure from the unduly fractious and intransigent brinkmanship exhibited by several erstwhile helmsmen at the federal legislature, the worst- case scenario being the recalcitrant and anti-diluvian leadership of the 8th National Assembly.”
The group explained that even though the harbingers and beneficiaries of crises in the National Assembly have maliciously and viciously dubbed the 9th Assembly a rubber stamp, it is because they were denied the spoils of the counterproductive executive-legislative wars of attrition, adding that the handling of the current National Assembly leadership has without a shadow of doubt, ensured the prompt and positive consideration of the numerous Bills and requests from the executive.
He said the “unassuming and highly accommodating leadership of the current leadership of the Senate has effectively prompted the Executive to grant their numerous requests and passage of hundreds of Bills. With the fortuitous election of a responsive and responsible President in person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria will be best served by the continuation of the pragmatic and patriotic style of the current Senate under Senator Ahmed Lawan, to ensure the rekindling of the renewed hope, a cornerstone of the manifesto of the President-Elect.”
He also reminded Nigerians how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) adopted the same principle of Continuity in Leadership with Senator David Mark Presiding over the 6th and 7th Senate for the smooth running of the then administration.
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