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From Fred Itua, Abuja
Ahead of the inauguration of the National Assembly, leading civil society organisation, Parliamentary Advocacy Network (PAN) Nigeria, has called on lawmakers-elect to reject plans by the executive to select their next presiding officers.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, after a two-month engagements with political stakeholders, leaders of PAN Nigeria warned that repeating the mistake of 2019, when the positions of presiding officers of the 9th National Assembly were micro-zoned, will birth another rubber stamp Assembly.
The national coordinator, Anderson Osiebe, said certain criteria should be considered by lawmakers-elect in picking the next leaders of the two chambers of the National Assembly.
He said: “We condemn the interference and many glaring attempts of the executives at both the national and state levels to choose presiding officers for members of the legislature in these aforementioned jurisdictions.
“We note that the legislature is a different and an independent arm of government recognised by our constitution and calls on members to resist by every legitimate means, including legal actions, all attempts by the executive or its proxies at the federal level and the states to inelegantly interfere in their affairs or make an attempt to bend or break the rules of such a legislative House or Houses in order to accord undue advantage to anyone among their members in a bid to choose a leader or leaders being favoured by the members of the executive or their proxies.
“We affirm that after 24 years of practising our kind of constitutional democracy, the legislature has come a long way and, therefore, retains, at all levels, its independence and financial autonomy accorded to it by our statute books and, therefore, urges lawmakers-elect never to be intimidated or muscled by any threats emanating from any executive quarters or from their proxies.
“We, again, condemn the inherent loopholes in the so-called zoning arrangements of presiding officers’ positions in our National Assembly allegedly done by the ruling APC and the president-elect, which have thrown the entire lawmakers-elect, their political parties and the nation at large unto an avoidable collision course.
“We, therefore, urge lawmakers-elect to take the destiny of the National Assembly as freely entrusted on to them by Nigerians in their on hands, jettison the vexed issue of the ill-advised zoning arrangements in favour of a wholly open contest that will favour popularity, leadership zeal, competence as well as true nationalistic characters and fervour of all candidates for various positions.
“We call on all lawmakers-elect across the country to permanently remain resolute and committed to the complete independence of the legislature and to continue to do everything to uphold same during the pendency of the 10th National Assembly and the various Assemblies in the states and reminds them that they can, at all times, count on the support of the people and the protection of the law.”
