Tag: House of Reps

As the race to the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other Principal Officers hots up, a group of returning and new members have formed a new bloc to influence who becomes the new leaders. Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi examine the influence and implication of the new power bloc.

The race to the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is getting tougher as intrigues deepen with the emergence of a powerful bloc called the Patriots, which is determined to influence who becomes the next Speaker. In earlier permutations, what was not factored into the equation was the emergence of a powerful bloc of lawmakers that has decided to take the decision of picking the Speaker of the 8th House of Representatives.

The bloc that emerged from the 5-day induction course for the in-coming lawmakers was made up of in-coming and returning lawmakers in the Green chamber. The membership cut across all political parties in the 8th Assembly. As if waiting for the emergence of the group, the contenders, one after the other, began official declaration of their interaction to run for the House top job. The top contenders include the current Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos), Chairman, Finance Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin (Kano), Chairman, House Committee on House Services, Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi), Chairman, Agriculture Committee, Mohammad Monguno (Borno) and Pally Iriase (Edo)

Though the Patriots claimed to be non-partisan with no candidate in mind to support, it was however gathered that the group’s aim is to take a commanding position in the run-in to the Speaker’s office. The Patriot is counting on its number which it intends to maximise by being the decider in the game. According to a source in the group, the membership has grown to about 96 and still counting.

It won’t be farfetched to say that the emergence of The Patriots forced the contenders out of their shell as each one of them made their official declaration one after the other. According to the group, “its emergence was to discourage executive meddlesomeness in the emergence of the Speaker. Besides, imposition of candidates on the House has never endured the rigours of the activities of the House,” the group noted. Though it affirmed that it was not in support of any particular contestant, if the body language of one of the contestants is anything to go by, then informed analysts might be in for a rude shock as their favoured choice may not be in consonance with that of the Patriots.

The group however stated that its emergence was borne out of the need to appraise the role of an effective legislature in times of change? While agreeing that the question is pertinent, it stressed that it was aware that with general elections over, a new government that campaigned on the platform of Change will soon emerge. Relying on the promise of the in-coming government to focus on security of life and property, anti-corruption and employment-generation as the corner-stone of its post-election programmes, the group said the leaders Nigerians deserve in the House must possess qualities like integrity; knowledge; competitiveness; capacity; versatility; track record; accessibility; reliability; and networking. “Certainly, the 8th National Assembly does not deserve either a tribal or  divisive leader. The House needs a leader, not a boss, as the first among equals. All these are much-abused words in the Nigerian governance parlance. For the 8th Assembly to be taken seriously therefore, our leadership aspirants must pass the integrity test through open scrutiny of their credentials,” the group noted.

To achieve this, the group is insisting that contestants for the position of Speaker of House of Representatives must be engaged in a public debate. The televised debate, according to the group, would afford Nigerians the opportunity of scrutinizing the credentials of the contestants.

Leader of the group, Musa Sarkin Adar, said the group is not just another group meant to add to the numbers. “As you may be aware of, there are different interest groups currently campaigning on behalf of different aspirants for leadership positions of the 8th National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives. This is a normal trend that follows general elections, and as part of the transition of member- elect into properly constituted members of the Green Chamber. Our group deliberately focuses on both election processes and quality of candidates, as opposed to business-as-usual group that crowd around individual candidates wishing to contest for speakership and other positions. Our major interest is the facilitation of the emergency of a dynamic and responsible leadership in the 8th House of Representatives in the overall national interest. Currently, we do not have aspirants in our fold because we do not want to place the cart before the horse. We are most interested in setting the parameters – principles, vision, mission, quality and commitment of those who aspire to lead us, as opposed to supporting individuals in return for sharing the spoils of office. The Patriots is ready and committed at supporting positive change as basis for repositioning Nigeria along the genuine path of peace, Justice, reconciliation and development,” he noted.

Adar said the importance of non-partisanship of the group should be emphasized for fear of being misunderstood. “The Patriots is a bi-partisan assembly of both returning and newly elected members of the House committed to a transparent and improved process of leadership selection in the Green Chamber. Our membership is all- inclusive, cutting across parties, states, zones, ethnicity, faith(s) gender, age-group. We place Nigeria first. We are change-agents and opposed to business-as-usual in governance,” he added.

Nigerians might want to ask, what is the difference between the Patriots and others before it like The Integrity Group that existed in the House before now? According to Adar, the Patriots group has a vision and a mission which it intends to adhere to even after the House election process. His words: “Our group’s vision is to spearhead the rebirth of credible parliamentary democracy, specifically in the House of Representatives, but remain a vibrant and vigilant multi-party institution committed to bequeathing the values of human freedom, peace and development to the 21st century generation of Nigerians and beyond.

“We are also equipped with a mission statement determined to facilitate the emergence of a responsible and dynamic leadership committed to the security and well-being of Nigerians, anti-corruption, political correctness, and exemplary leadership so that others may copy.

Besides, the group pointed out that in the process of evolution of nations many nations tend to throw up leaders at some point of their historical epochs that eventually confronted their prevailing challenges and became heroes. We are of the strong opinion that the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, is that potential leader in whom Nigerians have great hope and expectations. He enjoys the support, prayer and goodwill of all of us. As a consequence of that, we must have a strong personality at the helm of affairs of the House that would not only support the in-coming government but one that also possesses the determination to ensure the independence of our legislature. How far the group can go is a matter of time.