A Senator-Elect from Kano South, Suleiman Kawu Sumaila, has urged fellow Senators-Elect and Members-Elect of the House of Representatives to ensure the election of Presiding Officers of the National Assembly without acrimony or imposition.
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Sumaila, a former Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (House of Reps) made the call in a congratulatory message to all Senators-Elect and Members-Elect of the National Assembly circulated to newsmen on Wednesday.
“As Senators and Members-elect, we should be democratic and put our house in order so that both the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives can emerge in a manner devoid of acrimony or imposition,” he said.
Kawu Sumaila, who is also a former member of the House of Representatives, said while he did not oppose the idea of party supremacy, such must never be pursued at the expense of separation of powers which is the hallmark of the Presidential System of Government.
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“Political parties should only play a role in selection of leaders of party in the parliament. The lawmakers should be allowed to exercise the right to choose their presiding officers from among themselves as stipulated by the Constitution without any interference of ethnic, regional or religious coloration.
“The Constitution is explicit about how the President and Deputy President of the Senate shall be elected. Section 50 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is unambiguous that “there shall be a President and Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.
“Similarly, Section 50 (1) (b) of the Constitution states that “a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.
”Also, the Senate and House of Representatives Standing rules provide for selection or appointment of principal officers and other officers of the Senate and the House,” he further stated.
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He said to avoid the type of unnecessary distraction that marred the leadership of the National Assembly in the past, especially at this critical moment where Nigeria is confronted with numerous challenges, there is a compelling need for lawmakers-elect, as elected representatives of the people, to be mindful of the expectations of Nigerians “as we prepare to elect our presiding officers next month.”
Those expectations, the Senator-Elect said, included true federalism, restructuring, resource control, local government autonomy, security challenges, infrastructure decay, wastage and corruption, poverty and unemployment, marginalization and nepotism, as well as issues relating to secession, among others.
