A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Umaru Mohammed Bago, representing Chanchaga federal constituency of Niger state, has said he is qualified to be speaker of the lower chamber if capacity and competence should be considered as yardsticks for electing the leader.
Bago, who has thrown his hat in the ring to contest for the office of the speakership made this known in a statement he issued to newsmen.
He said he is contesting the number one position in the lower legislative chamber in order to ensure equity and fairness among the six geo-political zones of the country.
He said, “I observed with continued amazement and curiosity that the issue of equity in geopolitical balancing as enshrined in the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria has not been seen and taken seriously rather the issue of capacity and competence is being touted.
“The question is capacity and competence in what? To move motions and bills? Chair committee sessions? Educational background? Party loyalty? humbly speaking; if these are the indices to define capacity and competence, I am very qualified.
“If its the job of Speaker that we are talking about, the Speaker will not be moving motions or Bills. Only Speaker Yakubu Dogara had moved a bill on the floor of the house of representatives in recent history of the house over the last twenty years.
“A great speaker can not emerge from disdain for the constitution with which he will be sworn in. The capacity and Competence must be situated within constitutional prescriptions.
“Lastly the Speaker must enjoy earned confidence of members out of his #relatability #capacity and #quotient .
“An effective Speaker must be able to ride on provable ability that every member and stakeholders will find comfort and accommodation in him, by reputation.
“I am called Mr. Relatable because this is what my life embodies and it did not start with the aspiration to be Speaker,” the lawmaker argued.
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