By Christiana Ekpa
A civil society group, Movement for Effective Legislature and Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria (MELSDN) has charged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to take advantage of the general acceptability of the frontline contender for the House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara, across political parties and threw its queue behind him to Speak for the 10th Assembly.
The group, in a statement made available to journàlists on Sunday in Abuja, said the legislature, being a key arm of government in a democracy, requires serious institutional memory, courage and a strength of character in the person who presides over its affairs.
According to the group, polls conducted nationwide revealed that Betara is the only person who enjoys such a thick clout of respect, credibility and general acceptability across the members-elect of the different parties.
The group, in a statement titled ‘Betara: APC’s Tool for Budget Cycle Sustainability and Bipartisan Consensus’, signed by the national coordinator, Williams Ndorokpa Martins, said “the Legislature is the key organ of government in a democracy, be it presidential or parliamentary.
“And if the incoming 10th National Assembly will succeed, three factors must be brought into consideration and given greater premiums in our leadership recruitment process, particularly as it affects the 10th House of Representatives. They are: competency, integrity and institutional memory (experience).
“And as the race for the Speakership of the 10th House of Representatives reaches its defining moments, questions have continued to rage regarding the suitability of those who have thrown their hats into the ring. And while all those who have expressed interest in the coveted position have legal rights to such claims, one man has continued to stand out in terms of the impacts his current role in the outgoing Assembly have had in the socioeconomic resilience of Nigeria. He is no other than Rt. Hon. Muktar Aliyu Betara.
“Muktar Aliyu Betara, a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, representing Biu/Bayo/Shani and Kwaya Kusar Federal Constituency of Borno State North East Nigeria, is one of the few lawmakers in the National Assembly with concrete experience and core competency. He is the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations in the current 9th Assembly, which was inaugurated on June 11, 2019, where he has comprehensively demonstrated the said attributes above,” the statement said.
According to Martins, the group argued further that aside Representation, Law making and Oversight, Appropriation being one of the four cardinal responsibilities of the legislature, prides itself as the heartbeat of any legislative session or term, given its pivotal place as a major determinant of the nature of relationship that exists between the Legislature and the Executive arm of government.
