TheCable

Hamma Misau, a member of the ‘Like Minds’ clique of senators loyal to Bukola Saraki, says the crisis in the national assembly is the handiwork of masterminds operating from outside the legislature.

In a statement released in Abuja on Tuesday, he advised those who want to use the national assembly as a ground for their war of political relevance to allow the legislators perform their constitutional duty to the electorate.

He added that senators and house of representatives members were not elected for the purpose of fighting for leadership offices but to pass legislation, motions, and engage in debates and oversight functions that will lead to improved standard of living for the people.

“They should allow us to move on after the already-concluded election of the leaders so that we can face our job. In any election, there must be winners and losers and I don’t know when it became compulsory for the losers to be given other positions before we can perform our constitutional duties,” Misau said.

“When I heard my colleague, Kabiru Marafa, threaten fire and brimstone, saying that they will bring the roof of the national assembly down if their men who lost in the elections to select the leadership were not accommodated, I knew he was not the one speaking. He was only a mouth-piece for their sponsors.

“Why should the national assembly be grounded because some people failed in election into leadership positions? When then Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar lost in the presidential primaries to then General Muhammadu Buhari, did they insist they must get the vicepresidential slot or other positions? Let us stop all these threats and move on.”

The senator from Bauchi said those who insisting that Femi Gbajabiamila should be majority leader in the house should be ready to go for election because the explanation by Speaker Yakubu Dogara on the need for federal character and equal representation of all the geo-political zones in line with the constitution and house rules were logical.

He warned those who would rather follow the dictates of their Godfathers, instead of seeking to fulfill their election mandate, that they were only heating up the polity for no just cause and that history will not forgive them.

“It is not the first time people will lose election and it will not be the last time and the country remains bigger than any individual. I am surprised that senators and representatives are following, without any query, the dictates of some godfathers who have no constitutional mandate and in the process they are jeopardising their own responsibilities to the people. Eventually, you are the one who will be judged base on your performance by the people,” he said.