Ekweremadu Advises APC On National Assembly Crisis...
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has urged the All Progressive Congress to think about giving Nigerians dividends of democracy rather than wasting time in internal crisis of the National Assembly.
Ekweremadu, who played host to a Coalition of Election Observers, on Wednesday, July 1, emphasised that governance comes after campaigns and elections. He advised the APC to implement policies and programmes that would impact positively on majority of Nigerians regardless of political inclinations.
Apparently in an unclear reply to a statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari, who was quoted to have said: ‘’the election of Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President was unacceptable.’’ The deputy Senate president cautioned that the sanctity of the law must be respected, citing immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, who conceded defeat to an opposition party as an example.
“For us the sanctity of the ballot box must be respected in this country, that is why I am happy with former President Goodluck Jonathan and we must applaud him for accepting defeat and helping to supervise a smooth and peaceful transition to the present administration. This is a mark of statesmanship and we have to commend this to all the political actors. We must move forward, we must learn how to accept defeat at elections,” Ekweremadu said.
He advised those, who were victorious at various stages of the 2015 elections to forget the experiences of the past and pay attention on how they will bring about good governance to the doorsteps of the people who voted for and against their emergence.
He said the National Assembly will continue to ensure the nation’s electoral reforms are devoid of ambiguity by consistently reviewing the Electoral Acts, thereby making it conform with the best democratic systems in the world.
He added: “Now that the election is gone what is remaining now is good governance, we must begin to show statesmanship to ensure that once election is over, whether you won election as governor, a local government chairman, or a legislator or President, what matters is for everybody to provide for his constituency.
‘’What matters is that greater part of Nigerians voted for you but now that the election is over you be ready carry along both those who voted for you and those who didn’t vote for you.
“So we must understand this because, this for me is fundamental, that you continue to observe our elections. We are very interested in purifying our elections and we have been working on this since 2007; the first amendment of the constitution was with a focus on electoral reforms.
“This served during the 2011 elections and we followed it through with the 10 amendments of the electoral Act and constitution. We are happy that we have began to get things right.
We shall begin to see the reward of that reforms but reforms is a continuous exercise and we as leaders will continue to work with you and when we see observations regarding the electoral process and if there are areas of improvement we shall legislate on those areas more so now that we are trying to formulate our legislative agenda as a National Assembly.”
Ekweremadu revealed that the National Assembly is currently coming up with a legislative agenda that would guide its activities within the next four years in office.
On Wednesday night, July 1, Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives reportedly planned visiting President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock villa.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has urged the All Progressive Congress to think about giving Nigerians dividends of democracy rather than wasting time in internal crisis of the National Assembly.
Ekweremadu, who played host to a Coalition of Election Observers, on Wednesday, July 1, emphasised that governance comes after campaigns and elections. He advised the APC to implement policies and programmes that would impact positively on majority of Nigerians regardless of political inclinations.
Apparently in an unclear reply to a statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari, who was quoted to have said: ‘’the election of Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President was unacceptable.’’ The deputy Senate president cautioned that the sanctity of the law must be respected, citing immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, who conceded defeat to an opposition party as an example.
“For us the sanctity of the ballot box must be respected in this country, that is why I am happy with former President Goodluck Jonathan and we must applaud him for accepting defeat and helping to supervise a smooth and peaceful transition to the present administration. This is a mark of statesmanship and we have to commend this to all the political actors. We must move forward, we must learn how to accept defeat at elections,” Ekweremadu said.
He advised those, who were victorious at various stages of the 2015 elections to forget the experiences of the past and pay attention on how they will bring about good governance to the doorsteps of the people who voted for and against their emergence.
He said the National Assembly will continue to ensure the nation’s electoral reforms are devoid of ambiguity by consistently reviewing the Electoral Acts, thereby making it conform with the best democratic systems in the world.
He added: “Now that the election is gone what is remaining now is good governance, we must begin to show statesmanship to ensure that once election is over, whether you won election as governor, a local government chairman, or a legislator or President, what matters is for everybody to provide for his constituency.
‘’What matters is that greater part of Nigerians voted for you but now that the election is over you be ready carry along both those who voted for you and those who didn’t vote for you.
“So we must understand this because, this for me is fundamental, that you continue to observe our elections. We are very interested in purifying our elections and we have been working on this since 2007; the first amendment of the constitution was with a focus on electoral reforms.
“This served during the 2011 elections and we followed it through with the 10 amendments of the electoral Act and constitution. We are happy that we have began to get things right.
We shall begin to see the reward of that reforms but reforms is a continuous exercise and we as leaders will continue to work with you and when we see observations regarding the electoral process and if there are areas of improvement we shall legislate on those areas more so now that we are trying to formulate our legislative agenda as a National Assembly.”
Ekweremadu revealed that the National Assembly is currently coming up with a legislative agenda that would guide its activities within the next four years in office.
On Wednesday night, July 1, Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives reportedly planned visiting President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock villa.
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