The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas says he is grateful to members of the House for giving him the mandate to lead the 10th House of Representatives.
He gave his appreciation in an interview with State House Correspondents after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He however lamented that the influence of social media affected his ambition to some extent but God had ordained that he would emerge as the Speaker.
“When we started this campaign, it was always good. But the impact of social media propaganda of some of the contestants distorted the entire picture of what was on the ground. But To God be the glory, today, people have seen our level of popularity and acceptance by our members.
“And it has put to shame those who always thought that we were imposed by the party and that we don’t have the numbers. Today, people have seen that we have established a record that has never been established in the past. 353 out of 359 members electing us, it is unprecedented, it has never ever happened in the history of the Parliament,” he said.
On the insinuation that the 10th Assembly might be influenced by the executive arm of government, Abbas said the principle of Separation of Powers would be brought to bear.
“Well, if you talk about rubber stamps? Look at the acceptance rate of those who have elected those across party lines, almost the whole entire PDP, SDP, ADC and all other minority parties voted for us. So if they feel that we are going to be rubber stamps, do you think they will elect us? No.
“They believe that we will safeguard the sanctity of the National Assembly, as legislators, we will always separate our independence and we will relate and be able to harmonize with the executive where necessary. But where there is a conflict of interest where we feel that the executive is or wants to do something that is not in the interest of the public. They know that we’ll stand up against that,” the Speaker added.
Also speaking, newly elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu said the legislators will focus on nation-building.
“Well, we promised during the time we went to all the constituencies in the Federal Republic, canvassing for votes that we’re going to ensure that nation-building remains a joint task that will not be left only for the executive, the judiciary to handle.
“We promise that we are going to be there to make sure we’re at our own bricks to the nation-building wall. And this extends to the creation of jobs, reduction of poverty, policies that go into enhancing our energy sources, policies that will help us create more local content used in this country,” he said.
Dominica Nwabufo
