Federal lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday pour encomiums on the leadership of the Eighth National Assembly over the achievements recorded by the federal parliament in the last four years.
The parliamentarians did not also waste time to berate the Presidency and some of their colleagues who allegedly collaborated with the executive to unleash harassment on presiding officers and opposition lawmakers.
They commended the Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara-led Eighth National Assembly for passing the highest numbers of bills in the last 20 years despite the various distractions from the executive.
They particularly lamented the collaborative roles played by some of their colleagues to frustrate the leadership which they believed installed themselves against the wishes of their party.
The lawmakers berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress government for allegedly politicising governance by rejecting bills that would have been beneficial to Nigerians.
The principal officers started the valedictory sessions in both chambers by extolling the efforts at stabilising the nation’s parliament which started in a turbulent manner that lasted close to two years.
The outgoing Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, commended his colleagues for displaying unity in the face of the problems they were jointly confronted with.
He said, “As a matter of fact, there were plans to overthrow this Senate by force but there are some people here, in spite of their political divide, they stood their ground and today I want to thank them.
“I thank them for their courage, for standing by the truth. This has shown that there are still men of goodwill in this country.
“I will like to thank my colleagues in the PDP who, despite all the trauma, the persecutions, stood by democracy and the rule of law and committed themselves to this institution. You are the heroes of this Eighth Senate.
Senator Dino Melaye held his colleagues spell-bound as he x-rayed his travails in the hands of security operatives.
He also said he shed tears when his colleague, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, allegedly led thugs to desecrate the hallowed chambers in 2017.
Melaye said, “I was arraigned seven times in 2017 and 18 times in 2018. Last year, I was arraigned in 12 different courts but here am I standing and returned undisputedly as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I say to God alone be the glory forever and ever. I have two historical days I will never forget in the history of the Eighth Senate. One is a day of joy and merriment, the other is a day of sorrow and pain.”
He said his happiest day was the day Saraki and Ekweremadu emerged as the leaders of the Senate while his saddest day was the day “Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, led dissidents, thugs to desecrate the chamber of the Nigerian Senate.”
Also the Deputy Minority Whip, Emmanuel Paulker, said, “We can disagree as senators but a situation where senators would be involved in mace snatching is wrong and should not be encouraged.”
However, Senator Olusola Adeyeye listed certain things done wrong by the outgoing Eighth Senate.
For example, he said his colleagues flouted their rule on time, stressing that instead of starting plenary by 10am on Thursday, they started after 11am.
He added, “I don’t think we’ve always done a good job with oversight. Since I got here, repeatedly announcements were made that oversights should not be used for extortion, unfortunately, that has not always been the case.
“Till now, two years in a row, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control budget has not been passed for no other reason but interplay of strong men in the corridors of power.
“Another thing that we did wrong at the beginning was the emergence of the Minority Leader. The Nigerian Senate is the first parliament I know of where a first-timer emerged as leader because of interplay of ethnicity and rules.
“It doesn’t happen in any serious legislature. The Nigerian Senate must have that temperament, that courage to say it doesn’t matter how much your experience is before coming to this place.
“When you’re a first-timer, you’re a first-timer. That goes for both the PDP and the APC. The only exception is when you zone a position to a particular zone and there is no other person but a first-timer.”
Others, who also spoke on the floor were, Emmanuel Bwacha, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, Shehu Sani, Albert Akpan Bassey, Abdullahi Adamu, Sam Anyanwu, Ben Murray-Bruce, Binta Masi Garba, Joshua Lidani and George Akume.
They commended the Senate leadership’s doggedness and hard work which they claimed led to the passage of 319 bills, the highest in the history of the Nigerian Senate.
They also berated the executive for rejecting over 40 bills duly passed by the federal parliament in the last four years.