-Says Lawmakers be allowed to choose leadership

By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo

Dr.Hakeem Baba Ahmed, spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has sought for the Independence of the legislative arm of government, insisting that legislators of the 10th National Assembly (NASS) should be allowed to choose their leaders.

He spoke while presenting the lead paper at a one-day colloquium organized by the Democratic Watch Initiative (DWI) in Kaduna on Thursday.

He said the northern voters had done their job and voted based on conviction over the qualities of candidates while some because they were induced; just as some voted along faith lines and others along party lines.

“The result of the elections showed that the North was the only region that gave all the candidates huge votes, indeed, they made the difference in terms of who became elected at presidential levels.”

” Individuals and groups lobbying for positions from northern legislators should be conscious of a number of things. First, the best thing is to respect the independence of the legislature and allow members to choose their leaders.”

“Elected legislators waiting for final verdicts from the courts who are lobbying groups and members of the public to be elected by colleagues or President-elect forget that if successful, they will be leading legislators.”

“Groups which lobby Tinubu for ‘theirs’, should know they will pay a price in the long run. That is how politics is played.”

“The North does not want just any legislator from the North to become Speaker. We should hope that he has the highest personal integrity and a good idea of how his position can help him. All of them contesting should submit to a process by which their fellow contestants nominate them and then support them.”

“The same thing should be done at the Senate level. If those who know each other better than us cannot decide who will serve our interests as Northerners best, then we stop campaigning for all of them. We do not want legislators who want to be in positions of power to fulfil personal ambition.”

“Individuals and groups lobbying for positions for northern legislators should be conscious of a number of things. First, the best thing is to respect the independence of the legislature and allow members to choose their leaders.”

“The North does not want just any legislator from the North to become Speaker. We should hope that he has the highest personal integrity and a good idea of how his position can help him. All of them contesting should submit to a process by which their fellow contestants nominate them and then support them. The same thing should be done at the Senate level,” he said.

The convener of the programme, Dr Nasir Danbatta said the colloquium with the theme: “inclusive participation for sustainable democracy” was put together to brainstorm and design a comprehensive manifest for a major paradigm shift to a more responsive leadership and adoption of a new selection process that would shift from parochial considerations such as ethnicity, religion and sectionalism and centre on competence, capacity and character as the basis for governance.

Other speakers during the program were
Professor Abubakar Sadiq from Gombe state who is the Deputy director of general operations of NEF, Professor Abubakar Abdullahi, Professor Jika Jidjere among others