Senate Majority Leader and one of the frontrunners for position of Senate President in the Ninth Assembly, Ahmed Lawan has assured that the incoming Assembly would not be a rubber stamp if he emerges as Senate President.
Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja when members of the All Progressives Youths Forum (APYF) paid him a courtesy call, Lawan expressed optimism that the Senate under him would give the best to Nigeria and Nigerians in terms of legislation for good governance.
According to him, those that have the notion that he would allow the Senate to be a rubber stamp to the Executive did not really know whom he is and what he stands for.
The lawmaker promised to run an all-inclusive Senate if elected by his colleagues at the inauguration of the Ninth Senate in June this year.
“Some people said the Ahmad Lawan Senate Presidency will be a rubber stamp; they don’t know us. That’s not what I stand for. But if rubber stamp means what will bring food to the tables of Nigerians, so be it.
“Separation of powers doesn’t mean we should be fighting. In fact, it means we should be inter-dependent. All of us in APC will support Mr President, but we’re going beyond that because we want other parties too to be on board.
“Nigerians haven’t seen the best of us in APC, because we could have delivered far more to Nigerians. For Nigerians to vote out a sitting government, it means they had confidence in APC.
“Despite the unwarranted attacks and challenges, we were able to achieve a lot, but we believe we can achieve far more. President Muhammadu Buhari is a very prudent man with high integrity. Because of that, we were able to achieve something,” he said.
Lawan said he would make sure that his campaign team meet with all the 109 senators-elect to canvass their support individually.
He added: “When our colleagues advised that we should run again this time around, we consulted widely and got the consent of stakeholders. We will go out to meet individual senators-elect and tell them what we will do and how we are going to do it.”
Some of the senators-elect present at the event included Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti), Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger), Bello Mandiya (APC, Katsina), Tijjani Kaura (APC, Zamfara).
Other were: Dayo Adeyeye (Ekiti), Yakubu Oseni (APC, Kogi), Jibril Isah Echocho (APC, Kogi), Jibrin Barau(APC, Kano) and Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta).
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
