Date: 2015-05-31

Senator Ahmed Lawan, chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts and Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, House of Representatives Minority Leader, apparently share a common disposition in the National Assembly. Both have, for more than a decade, remained stabilising forces in the parliament through rare and intellectual inputs into the legislative process.

Interestingly, both astute and focused parliamentarians have now offered themselves for presiding positions in the two chambers respectively in the incoming 8th National Assembly to be inaugurated June 4, 2015.  While Senator Ahmed Lawan wants to be elected Senate president, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila is pushing to emerge as speaker of the House. Both are preparing to take over from Senator David Mark and Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal correspondingly.

To be sure, with  my 12-year stint and experience  in the National Assembly, working in different capacities with various presiding officers of the House, it is only incontrovertible that these men are eminently qualified and most suitable for the job they have expressed their interests. This is because, for more than a decade, I have carefully followed their profound legislative activities and record, and on the basis of this, have therefore come to the conclusion that they are currently the best choices to resourcefully and robustly lead the Senate and the House in the next four years.

A closer look at the remarkable pedigree, uncommon legislative record, appreciable character and deep academic background of Lawan and Gbajabiamila further substantiate my position that they are the best to lead the legislative arm of government. Since 1999 when Senator Lawan was elected into the House to represent Bade/Jakusko federal constituency, Yobe State, he has excelled enormously in legislative business 

Lawan is one of the few legislators who have enjoyed consistent re-election into the National Assembly. Since 1999 he has enjoyed an unbroken chain of re-elections. The result is that he has been a two-time member of the House, and from June 4 this year, a three-time member of the Senate.  As at today, Lawan has had 16 years straight stint in the National Assembly. This reality is evidently linked to his effective representation, results-oriented and selfless touch with his people and significant legislative governance

When Lawan arrived in the National Assembly in 1999, he came well made, clearly prepared. With a doctorate degree in Remote Sensing, University, as well as political party administration experience, great vision, commitment to legislative business and outspokenness, he was able to make his mark within a short period of time in the House.

In spite of being in opposition at that time, having been elected on the platform of the then All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), he was one of those who constituted the former Speaker Ghali Na’abba’s think tank and intellectual team. 

Imbued with the legislative experience he amassed from the House, he came into the Senate in 2007 like a colossus. He was elected to represent Yobe North senatorial district. He has since remained one of the senators who have provided direction and stability through scholarly and lucid contributions on the floor of the Senate. His views are usually well-based and respected by his colleagues and the Senate president

His outstanding performance in the Senate earned him the headship of the intricate Senate Public Accounts Committee for eight years and membership of the Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review. As Public Accounts Committee head, he has continually taken on the executive to instill fiscal discipline and to work out a framework to scale down public waste. 

Lawan’s ultimate goal is to ensure transparency and accountability in the oil industry, being the bastion of the nation’s revenue generation. He notes: “I want to see an oil industry that is very transparent; as crystal transparent as possible, where revenues and resources generated are known to citizens.” 

Similarly,  for the 12 uninterrupted   years  Gbajabiamila has been in the House,  he has been providing  credible and  bold  opposition to the sorrow of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). While expressing interest to run for the House speakership, Gbajabiamila had noted: “I have been in the House for 12 years now, and eight of those years as the minority leader, doing my best with the support of other members of the House to build a vibrant and accountable legislature and legislative process.”

Gbajabiamila is right. As minority leader he has thrown up effective   leadership that has translated into a united, cohesive and virile opposition base, which has in no small way been taming the ruling party.   For instance, in 2006 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo pursued a tenure elongation project through constitutional amendment, Gbajabiamila constituted a strong force in the parliament that contributed immensely in thwarting that move.

He also played a central role in stopping the PDP from its plans of making Mulikat Adeola-Akande speaker in 2011. Instead, he ensured that his colleagues in the opposition rallied around Aminu Tambuwal to boost the number that made him speaker.  Besides, he fought the then ruling PDP severally to stem the tide of extra budgetary expenditure and arbitrary military deployment.

It is evident that in practical legislative experience, remarkable and effective parliamentary leadership desirable for the   success of the new dispensation, Lawan and Gbajabiamila are most suitable to lead the Senate and the House respectively. Nigerians are indeed waiting for the senators and their colleagues in the House to do the right thing.

Yusuf wrote from Abuja