Senator Mao Ohuabunwa who represented Abia North senatorial district in the eight senate has challenged members of the National Assembly to rise to their constitutional responsibilities and put the executive arm of government on its toes in addressing the rising insecurity in the country.
The former Speaker ECOWAS Parliament who threw the challenge while speaking with newsmen in Umuahia said that the current National Assembly was too quiet and needed to sit up.
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Ohuabunwa who was a two term member of the House of Representatives and a one term senator said that the level of insecurity in Nigeria had continued to degenerate because the lawmakers had failed to hold the Executive accountable.
He tasked NASS members to take a firm stance against Executive docility over the growing insecurity in the land, arguing that protection of lives and property remains the primary function of every government.
” I’m angry with the current NASS. I have been at both chambers, so I’m in a better position to say what I’m saying.
“It’s very unfortunate today that things are falling apart and you are not even hearing them.
” Killing has now become the order of the day. What raises the alarm is the number killed. You (NASS) have moved the motion two times for the Service Chiefs to be changed and nothing happened and you are quiet?
“This is the time for you to act, and time for Nigerians to feel you! There must always be be the fight between the Executive and the Legislature; It doesn’t mean the absence of progress”
The former Speaker ECOWAS Parliament recalled that when he was in the House of Representatives, a motion was moved by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party for the impeachment of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo despite being in the same party with the President.
Although the President was eventually not removed, the action according to him made him to sit up and discharge his duties more responsibly.
” This is the time we need them to sit up, and quickly too. I can’t hear them at all! I have also been speaking to them privately. They must stand to be counted at least for posterity.”
On the recent call by Senator Rochas Okorocha for progressive people in both the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC and the opposition PDP to form a new political alliance ahead of the 2023 general polls, Ohuabunwa hailed the courage of the former governor to speak out but said he was only voicing his frustration in APC.
He simply said that what Okorocha was advocating “is impossible”, and advised him to return to PDP if he wanted to be part of efforts to rescue Nigeria from the brink of collapse.
“Rochas should return to PDP. He has strayed to virtually all the political parties. We encourage him and all those wishing this country well to be bold enough to return to PDP so we can rescue and rebuild Nigeria”.
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