Paul Osuyi, Asaba, with agency report
Former Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has expressed confidence that the new leadership of the National Assembly will help drive President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term agenda of ‘Next Level’ government.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said the choice of Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) and Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central) as Senate president and deputy president respectively as well as Femi Gbajabiamila and Idris Wase as speaker and deputy was good for the nation’s democracy and the needed synergy between the legislature and executive.
Uduaghan, in a statement by his media assistant, Monoyo Edon, said the new presiding officers have capacity to make laws for the good governance of the country.
The former governor said Nigeria is in need of a legislature that would partner the executive in solving the multiplicity of challenges ranging from insecurity and unemployment among others which currently confront the country.
“While I do not support a rubber-stamp legislature, I am of the firm conviction that the kind of legislature Nigeria currently needs is one that will constructively partner the executive and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration to confront the nation’s challenges headlong.
“I have no doubt that the current leadership of the National Assembly has the capacity to make laws that will support President Muhammadu Buhari to achieve the APC’s Next Level agenda for Nigerians,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has described the emergence of Omo-Agege as divine manifestation of the will of God.
The union, in a statement in Asaba, said Omo-Agege’s elevation in the face of suffocating opposition was a demonstration of the will of God at work.
The statement jointly endorsed by the union’s Chairman, Michael Ikeogwu and Secretary, Churchill Oyowe, urged Nigerians to take a cue from Omo-Agege’s elevation and remain steadfast in belief for a greater, prosperous and united Nigeria.
The union said the victory represented a solid voice for the people of Delta Central and Delta State in particular and the South South geopolitical zone in general.
It called on Omo-Agege to use his new office to institutionalise legislations that would advance developmental efforts and deepen democratic experience in the country.