Speaker of House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Monday said the leadership of the ninth
National Assembly should be allowed to emerge from elected parliamentarians.
Dogara said that any leadership
that is forced on the National Assembly will fail.
The Speaker spoke in Abuja at the
ongoing induction of Senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect
of the ninth National Assembly.
He noted a situation where
“leadership is forced and literally driven down the throat of elected members
had never endured in the National Assembly.”
He advised Senators-elect and
House of Representatives members-elect to look out for those who have thrown
themselves into the race to see who will aggregate their aspirations better.
The least legislators could
afford in the National Assembly, he said, is crisis on account of the
leadership selection process.
“I hope we will learn from
history,” Dogara noted that leadership imposed on the National Assembly has
never worked.
Dogara said: “Well, I guess that
it is not a subject matter you may want just to offer an advice on because we
are all parliamentarians those that have been elected, we will be here for four
years to serve the people. Leadership is always something that emerges from
people.
“Some of us that have been a bit
old in the field, we know how that is done.
“My advice is that we stay calm
to understand the people going in for these positions of leadership in the
National Assembly.
“At the end of the day we are
praying that we have those leaders who will be able to sustain what we have
done in the Eight Assembly or even surpass what we have done. We don’t want
leadership that will take us back.
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“We have made a lot of mileage
and we hope that we will be able to get the kind of leadership that will build
on the achievements of this Assembly which is unparalleled in our legislative
history.
“I will advise members to
actually look out for those who have thrown themselves into the race to see who
is it that will aggregate their aspirations better and then will be able to
surpass the record of this Assembly.”
On the role of party in the
emergence of leadership at the National Assembly he said: “Well, I’m not here
to dictate to parties, the parties have their manifestoes, the way to do their
businesses but one thing I have said and if you followed the business during
this induction, it is always better to allow the leadership to emerge from the
people.
“Where leadership has been forced
upon the people, the history in the National Assembly, and in fact, the history
of Nigeria, it has never endured.
“The least we could afford in the
National Assembly is crisis on account of the leadership selection process.
“So who ever a party is
sponsoring and supporting, they should make sure they have the backing of the
legislature so that they (legislators) accept it because they own the process
and they own the leadership.
“That way, it will be good but in
a situation it is forced, literally driven down the throat, in most cases it
doesn’t augur well.
“Even in the Senate it doesn’t
augur well. In the House of Representatives too, it doesn’t augur well too.
“You are journalists, you should
be able to dig into the archive and you will be able to find specific cases.”
Senator Ali Ndume said that the
National Assembly is drifting and has been privatised to some extents.
He noted that when positions have
been zoned, members of the zones should be allowed to choose among themselves.
Ndume also said that a situation
where the presiding officer rules out a member who has contribution to make
should be reconsidered.
Dogara laughed and noted that
since Ndume is running for the Senate President, if he gets it he will know
where the shoe pinches.
Dogara said: “If you become the
Senate President, you will like to exercise such power because I know you very
well.
“Certain unwritten rules are
applied by the presiding officer to stabilise the chamber.
“If a member raises point of
order, the presiding officer may even tell him to approach the chair.”
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