The Niger Delta Rights Advocates, on Friday, asked the All Progressives Congress and the in-coming members of the National Assembly to consider integrity, loyalty and hardwork in arriving at their choice of the leadership of the 10th Assembly.
A statement by its National Coordinator, Bright Ngolo, said, “The choice of leadership of the National Assembly should not be left to the ruling elite but that citizens and indeed the electorate must have to debate the strengths and weaknesses of the dramatis personae vis-a-vis the performance of the current and past leaderships of the NASS.
“We do believe and rightly so that it remains a moral burden for the nation to consider the inclusion of the South-East zone to the leadership matrix of the nation and the formation of the leadership of the 10th Assembly presents an auspicious opportunity to us all.”
Ngolo said the decision of the leadership of the APC to present the post of Deputy Speaker to the South-East zone was welcome, adding that the zone has qualified sons and daughters at the House of Representatives, especially those of the APC extraction.
“Since it is only one person that would occupy the position, NDRA said it was throwing its weight behind Benjamin Kalu representing Bende Federal Constituency to become the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. Kalu has the capacity considering the number of bills which he has to his credit, among other factors including visibility.
“Kalu has the 43 bills to his name, the highest in the entire South-East and three of the bills have been assented to by the president. On motions on national issues of importance, he ranks the highest with 22 to his name.
“In terms of loyalty to the party, Kalu fearlessly preached the message of the APC even in the face of danger in the zone. We want Nigerians and the party apparatchik to understand that micro-zoning the post of Deputy Speaker to Kalu is a reward for loyalty to the party as the campaign office he erected to market the APC was riddled with over 100 bullets by yet-to-be-identified assailants due to his resilience in harvesting votes for the APC.
“The 10th NASS leadership must be built around character, integrity, popularity, respect for the institution and getting the due of members to ensure even development is attracted across board.” Ngolo stated.
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