Thursday was a day of outpouring of emotions by
Senators and House of Representatives members as the curtain fell on
the sixth National Assembly.
As they bade one another farewell during their valedictory sessions, they recalled the joy they derived servicing the nation and the controversies that trailed their four-years in office.
Many were moody, with the realisation that their tenure had ended showing on their faces.
Outside the National Assembly chambers, legislators were seen parking their office equipment and other personal belongings into their vehicles.
In the House of Representatives, where 260 members were not reelected, two wept during the five-hour valedictory session.
One was former Speaker, Patricia Etteh, who was absolved of blame in the controversial N268m renovation scam that led to her ouster on 0ctober 30, 2007. Another was Halim Agoda, one of the two arrowheads of the Integrity Group in the House, which called for a probe of the scam.
Agoda who had been in the House since 1999, lost his reelection bid in Delta State.
While some wished that they had more time left, the majority sought for forgiveness from Nigerians, especially in the areas where they had disappointed the electorate.
They also sought forgiveness for one another over disagreements they had in the past.
Mr. Farouk Lawan, who led the Integrity Group to force Etteh out of office, for instance, said he hoped to meet with her at a different level next time.
Lawan noted that it was possible that he would meet Etteh either as a minister visiting the National Assembly or “we may meet when on oversight visit to your (Etteh) ministry.”
Etteh giggled when she heard Lawan’s compliment.
Lawmakers like Olaka Nwogu, Chinyere Igwe, Elizabeth Ogbaga and Austin Nwachukwu tried to brighten up the mood by having many photo sessions with the colleagues they were leaving behind.
Making his speech, Bankole consoled his colleagues, describing the Sixth House as the best of all the sets since 1999.
He called on them to ignore whatever critics and the media were saying about them because the media attention simply meant that the legislators were “very relevant.”
“Anytime they stop writing about you, then, you have to stop and ask yourself why,” he added.
With 187 bills to its credit, Bankole observed that the House amended the 1999 Constitution and played a “patriotic role in rescuing the nation from a serious constitutional crisis during the ill-health and subsequent death of President Umaru Yar’Adua by passing the seminal resolution on the Doctrine of Necessity…”
Bankole called on Nigerians to applaud the House for recovering and returning over N1.2tn to the public treasury since 2007 and establishing the National Assembly Budget Office to allow for more scrutiny of national budgets.
His deputy, Alhaji Usman Nafada, said he was shocked that “four years have come and gone like the blinking of an eye.”
Nafada criticised his colleagues for not considering reports on bills passed by the House seriously.
He stated that the majority of them would abandon the chamber at critical moments when reports were being considered, forgetting that the Committee of the Whole was the most important segment of the legislative process. When it was his turn to speak, Agoda, a Delta State-born member of the House , cried and had to be consoled by his colleague, Mr. Abdul Ningi, who is now a Senator-elect.
Agoda, who will not be returning to the House, struggled to hold flowing tears back, as he spoke.
His pain was that “coming to the House has become a way of life for me since 1999.”
He said, “I have been on this seat in the past 12 years. Every morning, I take my constitution and my rules book and come to the House.”
Agoda, who contested a senate seat in Delta State and lost, lamented that it had now dawned on him that his 12-year journey at the National Assembly had ended.
On his part, the Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, blamed the woes of the House on the media, saying that they carried stories, which compounded the ‘battered’ image of the sixth House.
The Chairman of the Committee on Police Affairs, Mr. Abdul Ningi, expressed concern that the legislature was divided along religious and ethnic lines, far from the “sense of national unity” built in 1999.
In the Senate, members recalled periods of excitements and challenges in the last four years.
It was almost a comic session as they called one another by their nicknames and highlighted the cordial working relationship that existed among them.
Senator Nimi Barigha-Amange started the round of fun when he said that it would be good to have more retired military officers in the Senate, an indirect reference to the President of the Senate, David Mark. Mark retired as a Brigadier-General.
For that comment, he got one extra minute to speak. He remembered “Mana and Co,” the tag name for the group of former military officers in the Senate led by Senator Mohammed Mana.
Amange’s repeated reference to Senator Grace Bent, who sat beside him in the last four years as his “first lady” elicited loud guffaws from his colleagues.
While defending his action, he said that ‘Grace’ was the only name mentioned in the prayers of the Senate which goes thus: “Help us with thy grace to do all those things that ….”
By John Ameh and Josiah Oluwole, Abuja Courtesy Of: Punch
As they bade one another farewell during their valedictory sessions, they recalled the joy they derived servicing the nation and the controversies that trailed their four-years in office.
Many were moody, with the realisation that their tenure had ended showing on their faces.
Outside the National Assembly chambers, legislators were seen parking their office equipment and other personal belongings into their vehicles.
In the House of Representatives, where 260 members were not reelected, two wept during the five-hour valedictory session.
One was former Speaker, Patricia Etteh, who was absolved of blame in the controversial N268m renovation scam that led to her ouster on 0ctober 30, 2007. Another was Halim Agoda, one of the two arrowheads of the Integrity Group in the House, which called for a probe of the scam.
Agoda who had been in the House since 1999, lost his reelection bid in Delta State.
While some wished that they had more time left, the majority sought for forgiveness from Nigerians, especially in the areas where they had disappointed the electorate.
They also sought forgiveness for one another over disagreements they had in the past.
Mr. Farouk Lawan, who led the Integrity Group to force Etteh out of office, for instance, said he hoped to meet with her at a different level next time.
Lawan noted that it was possible that he would meet Etteh either as a minister visiting the National Assembly or “we may meet when on oversight visit to your (Etteh) ministry.”
Etteh giggled when she heard Lawan’s compliment.
Lawmakers like Olaka Nwogu, Chinyere Igwe, Elizabeth Ogbaga and Austin Nwachukwu tried to brighten up the mood by having many photo sessions with the colleagues they were leaving behind.
Making his speech, Bankole consoled his colleagues, describing the Sixth House as the best of all the sets since 1999.
He called on them to ignore whatever critics and the media were saying about them because the media attention simply meant that the legislators were “very relevant.”
“Anytime they stop writing about you, then, you have to stop and ask yourself why,” he added.
With 187 bills to its credit, Bankole observed that the House amended the 1999 Constitution and played a “patriotic role in rescuing the nation from a serious constitutional crisis during the ill-health and subsequent death of President Umaru Yar’Adua by passing the seminal resolution on the Doctrine of Necessity…”
Bankole called on Nigerians to applaud the House for recovering and returning over N1.2tn to the public treasury since 2007 and establishing the National Assembly Budget Office to allow for more scrutiny of national budgets.
His deputy, Alhaji Usman Nafada, said he was shocked that “four years have come and gone like the blinking of an eye.”
Nafada criticised his colleagues for not considering reports on bills passed by the House seriously.
He stated that the majority of them would abandon the chamber at critical moments when reports were being considered, forgetting that the Committee of the Whole was the most important segment of the legislative process. When it was his turn to speak, Agoda, a Delta State-born member of the House , cried and had to be consoled by his colleague, Mr. Abdul Ningi, who is now a Senator-elect.
Agoda, who will not be returning to the House, struggled to hold flowing tears back, as he spoke.
His pain was that “coming to the House has become a way of life for me since 1999.”
He said, “I have been on this seat in the past 12 years. Every morning, I take my constitution and my rules book and come to the House.”
Agoda, who contested a senate seat in Delta State and lost, lamented that it had now dawned on him that his 12-year journey at the National Assembly had ended.
On his part, the Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, blamed the woes of the House on the media, saying that they carried stories, which compounded the ‘battered’ image of the sixth House.
The Chairman of the Committee on Police Affairs, Mr. Abdul Ningi, expressed concern that the legislature was divided along religious and ethnic lines, far from the “sense of national unity” built in 1999.
In the Senate, members recalled periods of excitements and challenges in the last four years.
It was almost a comic session as they called one another by their nicknames and highlighted the cordial working relationship that existed among them.
Senator Nimi Barigha-Amange started the round of fun when he said that it would be good to have more retired military officers in the Senate, an indirect reference to the President of the Senate, David Mark. Mark retired as a Brigadier-General.
For that comment, he got one extra minute to speak. He remembered “Mana and Co,” the tag name for the group of former military officers in the Senate led by Senator Mohammed Mana.
Amange’s repeated reference to Senator Grace Bent, who sat beside him in the last four years as his “first lady” elicited loud guffaws from his colleagues.
While defending his action, he said that ‘Grace’ was the only name mentioned in the prayers of the Senate which goes thus: “Help us with thy grace to do all those things that ….”
By John Ameh and Josiah Oluwole, Abuja Courtesy Of: Punch
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