Chidoka Blasts Lawmakers: ‘National Assembly Has Lost Its Integrity’ Over Rivers Dispute

The President’s authority would have been affirmed if a vote had taken place and lawmakers had supported him. This would have reinforced his leadership in a legitimate manner, demonstrating to Nigerians that he is capable of effectively achieving his goals.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

In an interview with Arise News on Wednesday, Chidoka said the Senate and House of Reps failed to uphold democracy.

According to him, no institution in Nigeria devalued itself like the National Assembly. He stressed that the National Assembly leadership ought to have made it known to the President that they would go by single members’ votes and not voice votes.

His words: “I am totally disappointed with the National Assembly. I am disappointed because here is, the President of the Senate is a former governor, like the President of Nigeria. He has been a minister. He has been a Senate minority leader at some point. And the simple adherence to the rules of the National Assembly, the Speaker of the House of Reps said he would do voice votes. He would use the Register of Attendance.

“No, that is not the purpose of representative democracy. The purpose is that me, Osita Chidoka, from Idemili North and South, want to know where my House of Reps member voted on important national issues. I want to know where my senator from Anambra Central voted on important national issues. So you deprive me of quality representation when you ask a mass of heads to shout yay and nay. That in itself devalues the National Assembly.

“If any institution has devalued itself in this democracy, it’s actually the National Assembly. Because they have refused to see that in respecting their rules…. And you can see Senator Ken Nnamani when he said the conversation about third term will take place on national television. We will show it on national TV and every senator will rise up and speak. So if we have a Senate that has told the President, look, we must take our votes one by one.

“So even if you need one million dollars to buy each senator, better go find it. If you need to promise them projects for their communities, do it because we are going to count them one by one. That is our rule. It is a mark of self-respect. It’s a mark of self-dignity. So when I see the senators behave like small boys shouting yes and nay on an important issue of whether the President can suspend democratic rule in any part of Nigeria, I feel that the National Assembly has devalued itself, not the Nigerian people. I don’t think he has done anything to the Nigerian people who don’t have much trust in them. But their respect will have been renewed.