Immediate past Chairman of the National Assembly and President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Abubakar Saraki has said he would bridge the political gap between the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Saraki said this to serving lawmakers of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the green chambers of the national assembly at a consultative meeting in Abuja.

The former President of the Senate and Presidential aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said that Nigeria cannot attract investment into the country where a government elevated presidential orders above legislative interventions to strengthen the economy.

He told the lawmakers that the experience garnered as a lawmaker, especially in defending the independence if the legislative institution would be sufficiently available to make the institution of the national assembly earn the respect and independence it deserved to provide suitable laws for Nigerians.

“Today the kind of debt profile that we have if about 90% revenue debt profile, certainly government alone cannot bring us out of this mess

“The only way we can get out of this mess is by having an environment that brings in investment because the government alone cannot do it.

“We can only get out of this mess. If we have leadership that is visionary; that understands the issue and courageous.

“You cannot give what you don’t have. All of you members of the House of Representatives you are enlightened.

“You have the experience, most of you are the victims of what the legislative arm of government when it comes to executive legislative misunderstanding. You will continue to be the victim of leadership? Saraki told the lawmakers who assembled at the Wuse 11 home of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu.

He noted that the clamour for restructuring cannot work if the buy-in of the President was not secured. Else he wondered at how the National Assembly would have secured the cooperation of two third of the nation on a bill after which a sitting President would ignore such painstaking effort.

The presidential aspirant from the North Central state of Kwara stated that he had the choice to be a good boy and served the interest of the party but chose to defend the institution and align with the Nigerian interest.

This he said cost him a lot of persecution but because the 108 other members of the Senate knew the fight was against the institution they stood in its defence.

He called on the lawmakers to lend support to his presidential quest on the party platform while assuring them that the work between the executive he would lead the national assembly would be strain-free and developmental for Nigeria.

“The only reason. Why I was able to survive was because the 108 on us and it was further. That’s it was not just mine, it belong to all of us

“It is time that you have one of yours, leading this country. Don’t we just your personal interest because it is important for us to have a president, understand how to work with the National Assembly.

Not to be battling everyday on executive legislative debating whether a budget is a proposal or padding, is an insult to the institution. These are issues that are so critical in moving this country forward.

He said his presidency would unite Nigeria and diminish the divisive tendencies if religion, region, ethnicity and others because Nigeria could flourish without emojasies of these while it allow same to thrive within the nation without destabilizing the general interest.

His words: “I believe today, I can reach across the religious divide. I also connect the divided of the older and the younger. I reach across the most important divide between the private sector and the public sector, which is business.

“You need all these four qualities to protect this country, and this is not just my past. But also from he who has been a victim of injustice and persecution for what he believes in.

“I will always defend the fight against injustice. I am not fighting for myself alone but to fulfill that my desire is the burning need to make this country better.

“You won’t know the experience. What it takes to survive as a presiding officer for four years. When the government is trying to teach me a lesson, you spend most of that time in court. You know how long it takes the reach on to impeach the president of Senate,

“We can make this country better. I need you to support me to get the nomination of my party, win the election to work together, to make the government work. Because the president that does not have the support of the National Assembly cannot turn around this country.

The changes that we need to bring to this country today require the national assembly. Whether it is constitutional review, whether they are issues that have to do with fiscal federalism or all these issues; you look at developed democracies. The president needs a national assembly on all these things, they mostly synergy to build the nation,” Saraki stressed.

Saraki said the members should look for a Nigerian President that would command global respect, especially among his African colleagues, citing the example of former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, who returned the President of Cape Verde to the country’s presidential palace at the outbreak of a military coup in that country.

He said the respect for Nigerian President was occasioned by the personality of the person of the Nigerian President, his global acceptability built over time with the right local and global audiences, all these, made it possible, this he said he, he would be when entrusted with the party ticket.