Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, declared on Tuesday that the members of the lower house of the legislature will not support the executive branch of government in its opposition to the people.
After speaking with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Abbas responded to inquiries from State House reporters by stating that the House of Representatives he would be leading would not be a rubber stamp. He claimed that if he and the Deputy Speaker had been nothing more than puppets and rubber stamps, the majority of the legislators would not have supported them.
“Look at the acceptance rate, those who have elected us cut across party lines, almost all the PDP, SDP, ADC and all other minority parties voted us. So if they felt that we are going to be rubber stamps, do think they will elect us? No.
“They believe that we will safeguard the sanctity of the National Assembly, the legislator, we will always separate our independence and we will relate and be able to harmonize with the executive where necessary.
“But where there is a conflict of interest where we feel that the executive is or wants to do something that is not in the interest of the public. They know that we’ll stand up against that,” he said.
In his reflection on the campaign, the Speaker discussed the myths that others in the race spread, leading some people to think that his ascent to power was unlikely.
He claimed that despite being written off, perceived as being “imposed by the party,” and unable to win the required support, his 353 votes out of the 359 total ballots showed that his election was anything but accidental.
“What I can tell you is that right from day one, when we started this campaign, it was always good. But the impact of social media propaganda of some of the contestants distorted the entire picture of what was on the ground,” he said.
