… ex-legislators are resource base, their experiences needed by govts-Ihedioha

By Joseph Erunke, Abuja

Former House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and the Majority Leader of the 5th Assembly, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, have both called on their colleagues not to sit on the fence with the vast experiences they have garnered over the years.

They insisted that as people that have once served in the National Assembly, they were in a vantage position to offer contributions to keep the government in check.

The former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, who aligned with the positions of Dogara and Akande, noted that the former legislators who he said, were now serving as a resource base of for the country,should be plugged for the betterment of Nigeria.

The trio spoke variously,yesterday,in Abuja,at the House of representatives Reunion 2024,convened by Ms Mulikat Akande-Adeola.

The landmark event, which brought together former legislators and key stakeholders, reflected on Nigeria’s democratic journey and explored ways to strengthen the nation’s democratic foundations for the future.

Speaking at the event which the theme:”Rebuilding the Foundations of Democracy: Learning from the Past and Shaping a Resilient Future”, Dogara challenged the ex legislators to speak out against any perceived unlawful or unethical conduct by the government ,saying such response was required of them, to keep the government accountable.

According to Dogara, the country “must first exist before there could be political offices either in the executive, legislature or judiciary to aspire to.”

He said,“It is said that what builds a nation is elite consensus, and what destroys a nation is elite complacency. Once you see a nation declining, it means that the elites are complacent, and the only way we can arrest this bad trajectory is for us to come here occasionally and meet with ourselves, as they say, iron sharpens iron and we speak with one voice.

“Unfortunately, whether you like it or not, the political system is organised in such a way that it is all about what you demand, and sometimes, they may not even listen to you when you speak out.

“The truth remains that, whether they listen to you or not, it is not an excuse to keep quiet; we should always speak out. For those of us who want to be role models, to be a role model entails two things.

“You must act worthy of your calling, and then you have to speak against wrong doings. But once you miss out on either of the two, you cannot be a role model.

“As statesmen, as elites, as leaders in this land, if we see something going wrong, we should do something, we should say something and let us offer everything within the ambit of our powers to see that those things are corrected. “

The converner of the reunion, Ms Mulikat Akande, speaking earlier in her welcome remarks, underscored the role of former National Assembly members in nation building.

The former Majority Leader insisted that it was time members began to keep the government accountable through contributions to national issues affecting the citizens.

She described former House of Representatives members as a group of people who had been in all the constituencies in the country and were in touch with the people.

Akande said,“I expect that we should be the ones holding the government to account. Anytime a government is in power, we can speak to policies, we can speak to government actions; whatever it is they are doing, we can demand explanation or accountability.

“That will put the government on its toes, even though some of us might also be in government at the particular time.

“They know that we represented people in the country, and we are still representing them because even some of those who are there now will become former, maybe by the next election.”

Also speaking at the event which saw many House of Representatives members in attendance, the former Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, while noting that the country had churned out many legislators serving as a resource base for the country, demanded that they be engaged for policy issues affecting the country, given their vast experiences in legislative affairs.