A group of professionals in the South West region of Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the quest by Mr. Tajudeen Abbas and Mr. Benjamin Kalu, to become the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively, saying their experience and productivity would be helpful to the Nigerian legislature and make it safe.
The group, League of Southwest Professionals, said in a statement on Monday that “on the basis of competence and capacity, Hon Tajudeen Abbas, the member representing Zaria Federal Constituency who has an unassailed record in the number of Bills sponsored by a private member, should ordinarily be primed for higher responsibility because a man is as good as his last job.”
In the statement signed by its Communications Director, Abiodun Yusuf, the League of Southwest Professionals said they had “assessed the aspirations of all the contenders to the Speakership position and come to the conclusion that Hon Abbas will, together with Hon Ben Kalu, bring a wealth of experience, maturity and act as bridge-builders between the legislature and Executive arm of government.”
It said: “As a patriotic group, the League of Southwest Professionals has watched with consternation at the degeneracy in democratic discuss, the downward spiral in public discourse and reduction regrettably of these discourses to ethnicity and religion, rather than competence and capacity.
“We are not unmindful of the diversities in tongues and tribes, but we believe in the strength embedded in our diversity as a people.
“May we remind Nigerians that in the 8th and 9th Assembly, Hon Tajudeen Abbas has to his credit 43 and 73 Bills to his credit as a member of the House of Representatives.
“We do not also believe that the only way to prove legislative activism is to adopt a combative approach. The 10th Assembly members deserve to get their due and it will only take a leadership that can negotiate on behalf of members to ensure that these gains are achieved without rancour.
The League said as “a non-profit making civil society pressure group determined to advocate for the betterment of professionals, the survival of entrepreneurship given the perennial challenges bedeviling the ease of doing business in the country”, it was imperative that Nigerians and, particularly the members-elect of the in-coming National Assembly, should think of Nigeria first.
