Governors of the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have urged the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly to guarantee the independence of the legislature in accordance with democratic ethos.
They also charged the new leadership to ensure that the rights of Nigerians were defended and well protected.
The opposition party governors spoke through a congratulatory message by Henry Seriake Dickson, Bayelsa State Governor and Chairman, PDP Governors Forum, to the National Assembly leaders.
The message followed Tuesday’s inauguration of the national legislature and the election of Senators Ahmed Lawan as Senate President and Ovie Omo-Agege as Deputy Senate President.
Femi Gbajabiamila and Ahmed Wase were also respectively elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The governor was quoted by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Daniel Alabrah, as saying that what transpired in the National Assembly on Tuesday was democracy in action.
He urged them to be conscious of the fact that they emerged at a trying time in the nation’s democracy.
Governor Dickson said the leadership and indeed the National Assembly must strive at all times to uphold national unity and cohesion.
“On behalf of the PDP governors, I congratulate the new leadership of the National Assembly. I urge them to strive to defend the independence of the legislature and to protect the rights of Nigerians,” the governor said.
“If the independence of the legislature is lost, then our democracy would have lost all meaning. The legislators should seek to protect both chambers as well as the rights of Nigerians. They have the responsibility to protect the Nigerian people against all forms of arbitrariness and abuses,” he said.
He urged the legislators to do their utmost to further the stability and unity of the country while working hard to deepen the country’s fledgling democracy. He said the principal officers of the National Assembly had assumed these high positions at a trying time in the nation’s democracy. “This reality must not be lost on them.”
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
