10th NASS leadership: Members-elect set criteria for election
Newly elected lawmakers at the National Assembly on Monday set various criteria for the election of Principal Officers of the National Assembly.
Some of them who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the commencement of induction of the new members, said that competence, ranking and zoning should be the criteria in the selection process.
For Sen. God’swill Akpabio (APC-Akwa-Ibom), the retreat is very essential, particularly for new Senators, adding that it would take them through the legislative processes.
On zoning, the former Gov. of Akwa-Ibom said: “In terms of what the ruling party is thinking of, we are only awaiting the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party which I believe will come out very soon.
“Then we will know what position is going to which individual or the other. It is not something we should begin to speculate.
“I believe justice will be done in terms of balancing the political equation of the country to ensure peace and a very peaceful tenure for the incoming President.
Akpabio, who according to reports, is the party’s candidate for the Office of the Senate President, said that he was not worried about the alliances by some of his party members with other parties.
“I’m not worried, it’s a normal thing; I always describe politics as a game of concentric circles of conspiracies. So I’m not worried about anything, I believe strongly that the will of God be done.
“My chance is in the hands of my colleagues, the senators; they will take the decision to the will of God.
On executive interference in the leadership process, Akpabio said that the lawmakers “are going to be the ones choosing the next senate president.
“When you talk of if there should be independence, I believe there should be cooperation between the parties and the lawmakers.
“When leadership is put in place, there should be collaboration between the executive and parliament, to ensure smooth administration.
“We are mutually dependent on one another. We can only get better when democracy matures,” he said.
Sen. Osita Izunaso (APC- Imo) said that the most natural thing to do was to zone the office of the Senate President to the South-East.
“It is long over due. If you ever contemplated zoning it to the South, it is a natural thing that it should go to the South-East.
“South-East is part of this process. South-East voted for APC.
“Today in the Senate, APC has the majority from the south-east; we have six senators elected. Are you aware that PDP has one senator elect in the south east.
“We in the south-east APC, we have done exceedingly well that the party should begin to look into doing the right thing.
“The right thing is to zone the office of the Senate President to the South-East,” Izunaso said.
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) said that the dividing line “is that whether we want an independent National Assembly or we want an assembly that is controlled by the Presidency.
“For me that is the dividing line. Nothing else matters. We must be independent, we must be able to protect the interest of Nigerians.
“We must be able to do what is good for Nigerians and the only way we can achieve this is if we are independent.
“For me there are no other issues that are important.
“I have spoken about the marginalisation of the south-east. I’m speaking on the need to look at the direction because of the obvious imbalances in the scheme of things.
“The most important issue is the Independence of the National Assembly.”
Sen. Suleiman Sumaila (NNPP-Kano) said that politics was a game of interest.
“There is no criss. This is a game of interest, therefore you cannot detach interest from politics.
“We can resolve the quagmire, the interest through the provision of the constitution. The constitution is very clear on the election of the Presiding Officers of the National Assembly.
“Every member of the National Assembly has the right to become Senate President or Speaker.
“We are practising Presidential system of government, separation of power is paramount.
“Therefore the parliament and executive is an independent institution working independently for the best interest of the country.
“Therefore, allow the legislators to do their own through the provision of the constitution and allow the executive do their own.
“Which zoning? Even if we have zoning, let us do it among ourselves for the smooth running of the National Assembly.
“We need to manage ourselves, we need to manage our diversity. The only way we can take Nigeria to the next level is to follow the constitution.”
Rep. Benjamin Kalu (APC-Abia) who is the present Spokesperson of the House of Representatives and re-elected, said, “In a democratic clime like ours, the ruling party plays a major role in setting up the architecture of government.”
Kalu is contesting for the Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives.
He said: “For some of us who believe in the supremacy of the party, we always tag along with the position of the party.
“My ambition was to be the speaker of the House of Representatives, it is for the party that gave me the platform to come to the house.
“I canvassed to aspire for that position because of the absence of south-east on that seat for 40 years and also we have men of capacity, competence, credibility and courage that will be able to handle the activities of that particular office effectively.
“But at the end of the day, the decision will be of the party that gave us platform to first win as members of house.
“I heard that a position has been taken by the party; we are waiting for that pronouncement, we are also ready to make withdrawal from that particular position. We will go along with what the party wants in the spirit of being a true party man,” he said.
For the only Female contestant for the Office of the Speaker, Rep. Miriam Onuoha (APC-Imo) “we need a lot more presence of women in all cadres and shades of life.
“Percentage of women participation has remained five per cent. It is not improving.”
Onuoha said that the solution to “catapult our status from this abysmal rating to an interesting one as the giant of Africa is by electing me as the Speaker of the House of Representatives or at worst, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
” This is the decision of where my party, the APC would zone these critical positions.”
