By Christiana Ekpa
A former member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Chika has faulted the decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to adopt specific persons as its choice of presiding officers of the 10th House of Representatives, stressing that neither the President nor the party has the right to dictate who should lead the 10th National Assembly.
Chika, a member of the 8th House from Niger State, in a television interview monitored on Arise TV, said the parliament is an independent arm of government in a democracy, and should be accorded such status under the principle of separation of power.
“We have three arms of government which is the executive, legislative and the judiciary, on no ground should the executive say it has appointed the Chief Justice of the Federation, the law allows him to nominate but after getting it from the National Judicial Council. However, the legislature is an independent body and they must choose among themselves.
“Neither the President nor the party have the right to dictate who should lead the National Assembly. The National Assembly like any other arms of government is independent to decide who will lead as an arm of government, so I don’t see any reason that either the party or anyone will micro zone or nanozone, so you can’t microzone the legislature. This is undemocratic and very dangerous to democracy and I don’t think this will fly.
“I have been speaking about the injustice we have been having within the APC and it is not because I have an interest in Aliyu Betara but because I am speaking as a former legislator, who don’t want to see that arm of government being bastardized in dictatorship. APC has been cantankerous because of the advice that has been coming from so many quarters.
“You can see even in terms of sharing how that seat of legislature should be shared. How did you exclude the North Central, so I think it is a biased thing, somebody just think I must make this person whether he is going to cover up for me”, he said.
“But I think the President-elect is an honourable man and should think beyond Lagos State, this is Nigeria and not Lagos State House of Assembly and we have a National Assembly consisting of people from everywhere and with different characters.
“APC should know that they do not have the majority, particular in House of Representatives, the minority is greater in number and with that you cannot dictate, the law did not say APC member-elect must be the Speaker, but the law says, member must choose among themselves, so if APC becomes very careless as a single party, even as a majority, other people will take it up.
“So APC should have a rethink because the manner by which we are going, we are not in a military administration, we are in a democratic administration. If you cannot allow zoning to take place, because you want to balance certain things, then you cannot nanozone the position of the National Assembly, this is carelessness. And Mr President, if you want to govern well, you should be able to take a stand right now.”
