TheCable

Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, chief whip of the house of representatives, says although he is the “longest serving member” of the green chamber, he wants to continue in his position till eternity.

Doguwa said this on Monday while fielding questions on Fireworks, a programme on Television Continental (TVC).

Asked what the privileges attached to the office are, he said: “Privileges? I don’t know how this affects you or Nigerians.

“You want someone to come and unseat me? They want to unseat me now? I want to continue as chief whip till eternity.”

Pressed further to disclose the privileges for the benefit of Nigerians who may pick interest in his office, Doguwa said his entitlements were not “more than the privileges that are available to every other principal officer in the list of the leadership”.

“I just want to continue as chief whip… And we are not in any way different or so far from the rights enjoyed by every other ordinary member. The convention that made me chief whip has also reminded me to know that I’m only first among equals.

“As it is today I’m the oldest serving member of the house of representatives. I started as far back as 1992. I may not be the oldest in terms of age, I reiterate that I’m the oldest serving member of the house of representatives today.”

Doguwa, who was not in the camp of Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house in the buildup to Dogara’s elction,  said he accepted the offer to be the whip in order to stabilise the chamber.

“So no matter what happens in the process of establishing the leadership of the house of representatives, no matter what role I played, I don’t see reason why I should continuously fight a leadership that has been transparently elected,” he said.

“What I did by accepting this offer is to stabilise the house. This is what I call democracy in action. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He added that there were no regrets having Dogara as the speaker of the house.