The Citizens Advocacy Group has frowned at the nomination of the former Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, for President of the Senate as an “affront on the principle of Separation of Power.”
This is coming after weeks of the All Progressives Congress choice of Akpabio for Senate President and Abbas Tajudeen for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
A statement by APC spokesperson, Felix Morka, had said the party also nominated a Senator representing Kano-North, Barau Jibrin as Deputy Senate President, and the current House spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu, as Deputy Speaker.
But the group, in a statement on Tuesday jointly signed by its convener, Chris Sunday George and the Secretary, Haruna Kabir, described the APC’s nomination as imposition of candidates on the 10th National Assembly.
The Citizens Advocacy Group noted that “What the APC has done is an autocratic imposition which has no place in a democracy as it poses serious danger to the independent legislature and an attack on the principle of separation of power.”
The group stressed that the 109 Senators-elect should be allowed to make their choice based on the experience, competence and qualification of each aspirant.
The group added, “We believe the race should be thrown open for all the candidates who have expressed interest from the zone to test their strength and popularity in a free and fair contest and anything short of that would not augur well for the smooth take-off of the 10th Assembly.”
“At this point in time when Nigeria is faced with a multitude of challenges, we cannot afford to inaugurate a new government and the National Assembly on a shaky and controversial note and we can avoid this by not giving room for imposition as the APC leadership has done.
“We reiterate that the decision of the party is not democratic. It is not well thought-out. It is highly offensive and a decision that must not be allowed to stand for the sake of equity and fair play”, the group said.
