The youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has congratulated the new leadership of the National Assembly.
DAILY POST reported that both chambers of the National Assembly were inaugurated on Tuesday, with Senator Godswill Akpabio emerging as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In a statement made available to journalists, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike urged the NASS leadership to work for the collective interest of Nigerians.
Okwu said the Senate and the Reps leadership must prove that they are not puppets of the executive arm of government.
“We are delighted with the emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the Senate President and Reps Tajudeen Abbas as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. We also congratulate our own son, Rep Benjamin Kalu who was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“We commend the National Assembly members for respecting the choices of President Bola Tinubu.
“Now that the election is over, we urge the NASS leaders to settle down for work immediately. The country is bleeding with a hell of problems, ranging from economy to security issues.
“We are certain of their capacity to provide robust legislation that would fast track the country’s journey to the path of progress. The issue of being a rubber stamp Assembly should not come up at all. This does not mean that they should be confrontational to the executive arm,” Okwu stated.
Similarly, the Igbo United Professionals have also congratulated Senator Akpabio, urging him not to take the block votes of the South-East Senators and their last minute support for granted.
This is contained in a statement signed by the President of the association, Emmanuel Ikechukwu-Jonathan and the Secretary, Engr. Cosmas Igata.
The association said “had it been that Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu and Sen. Osita Izunazo did not step down for Akpabio, Senator Abdulazeez Yari would have won the seat of the President of the Senate with his 46 votes as the 63 votes garnered by Akpabio would have been shared by the three contenders from the Southern Nigeria and that would not have been healthy.”
The association had last week emphasised that it would do the South-East geopolitical zone more good than harm by aligning with the government at the centre for more effective inclusiveness.
Igbo United Professionals further maintained that it would not be healthy for the South East to experience the kind of treatment the immediate past administration meted on the zone, adding that the only way to put an end to it was to align with the APC leadership programmes.
The association appealed to Nigerians to be fair to the South-East in the affairs of Nigeria considering the saying that “an injury to one is an injury to all.”
