NASS REPUBLIC: Kalu’s call for responsible campaigns. Two other stories, and a quote to remember

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, last week, cautioned against personal attacks on the presidential candidates in the 2023 General Elections.

We selected two other stories from the National Assembly (NASS), within the week under review.

1. Kalu’s call for decorum

On December 7, Senator Kalu called on the spokespersons of presidential candidates to focus on publicising the electoral promises of their principals, and stop attacks on their political opponents.

“Nigerians are tired of rhetorics on personal lives of the presidential candidates as being churned out by their spokespersons who primarily should be focusing on what their principals have in stock for the people across the various sectors,” he said in Abuja.

Kalu’s call for decorum is apt in a season where decency has been thrown to the dogs. It is nice to see him position as a statesman but it would have been more interesting to hear him speak directly to the candidates whose conducts have been less than acceptable also.

It would seem, therefore, that Kalu is merely riding the wave, and many would doubt his claims given past antecedents.

NASS MEMORY LANE

Who said;
“I’m in full support of the impeachment move against the President (Muhammadu Buhari). The Nigerian leader has failed in his fundamental responsibility to secure the lives and property of the people.”
Answer: See end of post

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Two other stories

2. Dogara on leadership recruitment

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on December 10, charged Nigerians to ensure they made use of their votes wisely.

Dogara stated this during the 12th convocation and 15th anniversary of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State.

He said: “We cannot look away as stakeholders in the Nigerian project. It is therefore imperative that we have a voice in moving the nation forward. Remember the power is your vote and vote is your future.”

Dogara’s speech not only amplifies the call to build a sustained democratic culture, it speaks to the country’s wobbly leadership recruitment processes.

The critical path, therefore, is to constantly remind Nigerians that the highest office in the land is that of the citizen, and that the electorates have the ultimate power to punish erring leaders by voting them out of power.

3. Remi on Muslim-Muslim ticket

On December 7, Senator Remi Tinubu, wife of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, asserted that the party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket will set a new tone in the country’s political landscape after 2023.

She stated this at the APC South-West Women presidential rally at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.

“As regard Muslim/Muslim ticket, this one will set the tone for the future. Sometime in future we will have a Christian/Christian ticket. What God has done is marvellous in our land,” she said.

Remi Tinubu’s partisan stance is unsurprising. While it may be true that a Tinubu victory could set a new tone for Nigeria politically, it is not unsafe to argue also that it has the potential to fuel, and deepen the already existing religious divide in the polity.

The future may, indeed, be pregnant.

Answer: Elisha Abbo
Abbo made the statement on July 30, 2022, during his remark at the APC Christian Leaders Summit in Abuja. He represents Adamawa North Senatorial District at the National Assembly.

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