BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Against the backdrop of agitation for his impeachment following what members of the red chamber of the National Assembly considered as surrendering the upper legislature to the direct dictate of the Presidency, the Senate President on Wednesday justified his romance with the Executive arm of government, saying it is aimed at enhancing service delivery to the people.
Lawan pointedly said that if someone believes that the National Assembly or the Legislature should always be fighting with the executive arm of government before the legislature is recognized as being active, that person is getting it wrong.
The Senate President is being accused by his colleagues of speaking for the presidency as if he is an appointee of the President thereby constituted himself into a stumbling block in getting the Executive arm to act in the common interest of Nigeria.
It was gathered that following the unpopular position Lawan took against the resolutions of the Southern Governors’ Forum for the restructuring of the country, ban on open grazing, creation of State Police and equitable distribution of federal appointments, lawmakers particularly from the Southern part of the country are desirous of getting Lawan out of the exalted office of President of the Senate.
The Southern legislators are believed to be working on the understanding that the embattled Senate President does not seem to enjoy the needed support among his colleagues from the North, particularly from the Northeast geopolitical zone.
Forefront gathered from information pieced together that the Senators are of the strong view that it is time for Lawan to be shown the way out in order to pave space for a more credible and people oriented Senate leadership and not one that is docile.
However, Lawan on Wednesday told a delegation of the Arewa Film Makers Association of Nigeria which paid him a courtesy call at the National Assembly, Abuja that the reason why the Legislature and the Executive arms were elected is to make them work together for the citizens.
In the words of Lawan; “We in this current session of the National Assembly are determined to work for Nigerians and in doing so, we believe that we have to work very seamlessly among ourselves in the National Assembly, both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“But, we also believe that we should continue to work with the executive arm of government. We decided right from the beginning that we need serious synergy, partnership and cooperation between the two arms of government.
“In the process, the Legislature is supposed to oversight the Executive and in that process, we are expected to disagree but we are expected to agree more than disagree.
“This is because the citizens are at the heart of either government policies or parliamentary legislations. Anything short of that is chaos.
“The Legislature is supposed to be in scrutiny of the activities of the Executive to ensure that the people, the citizens, get what they are supposed to get from the government that they have elected.
“So we have chosen to be very sensitive and alive to our responsibility as parliamentarians. That is to say if we see something that the Executive is doing that is wrong, we say that it is wrong but if the Executive is on the right track, we will ensure that we are supporting it for it to deliver the services to the people.
“I want to urge those who feel that if you are not fighting the Executive, you are not doing anything, to look at what the Ninth National Assembly has been doing. Judge us by our actions and activities. No sentiments.
“Some people, maybe, misunderstand what the role of the Legislature is. But many Nigerians know that in today’s administration, the Ninth National Assembly has played a very significant role in ensuring that we provide infrastructure in this country. That we provide services.
“That does not hide the fact that we have issues in the country – issue of insecurity particularly is everywhere. Yet we also believe that we must work together with the Executive to provide solutions to these myriad of security challenges across the length and breadth of our country.
“So this Assembly will continue to work for Nigerians. We don’t mind what somebody will say so long as we discharge our responsibilities to our citizens, we will be happy with ourselves that we are doing the right thing.
“That does not stop anyone from being critical but when you are critical of us, tell us how we can be better. Don’t just call people name because you have access to some media houses. Tell us where we are wrong so that we can improve and do better. That is what we want because the business of governance is everybody’s business even though responsibilities are cut for different arms of government and even for citizens,” Lawan said.
At this terrible time of in security and challenges of different magnitudes we need a person that is articulate, intelligent ly sound, and truly very objectively.