Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’ Abba, on Wednesday, described the emergence of Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House as revolutionary.
Na’ Abba made this remark when he led former principal officers of the House to congratulate the new Speaker of the eighth House of Reps.
Na’ Abba said the revolution was executed by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“The law makers are mature Nigerians and they know where they want to place the country in the comity of nations.
The former speaker posited that any party that wants to manipulate the autonomy of the legislature would be disappointed.
“In spite of the candidates preferred by the APC, the legislators chose who they wanted to lead them.
“The event that played out on Tuesday which led to Dogara’s emergence as Speaker, reminded me of the case of Aminu Tambuwal in 2011.
“Then, it was against the PDP but now it is against the APC”, Na’ Abba said.
The former Speaker urged the new leadership to sustain the existing tradition in the House.
“I urge you to realise that there is a tradition in the legislature and with what happened on Tuesday, it shows that the tradition will continue”, he said.
He urged the Speaker to carry every member along in order to guarantee the stability of the House.
“You must carry everyone along, and I also believe that communication must be open with our party in such a way that there is a synergy between the leadership of the National Assembly and the party.
“What I expect is that the party will do its best to accept what has happened and also work with the National Assembly.
“This is because it will be counter- productive if the party and the National Assembly are not in good terms”, he contended.
Responding, Dogara said his leadership would appreciate the guidance of the former principal officers.
“We will always run to you for counsel, once you notice that something is happening, I will appreciate any intervention that I can get to ensure we are back on track.”
He said the legislature should be ranked the best institution that entrenched democracy in the country
“We have seen how we have checkmated tendencies towards dictatorship in this country.
“Apart from that, it was in this House the third term agenda was killed”, Dogara said.
He said the new leadership would reach out to the executive and the party.
“As responsible leaders, we have to complement the efforts of government”, he added.
