From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Nigeria for Good Governance and Transparency (NGGT) has urged Anambra voters to vote wisely in the forthcoming senatorial election to clinch the Senate President and other principal officers in the senate.
The group said that positions in the senate are based on seniority where Anambra State has two female senators; Stella Adaeze Oduah, representing Anambra North and Uche Ekwunife, representing Anambra Central gunning for third tenures.
The National Coordinator of the NGGT Chief Julius Audu in a statement said that based on the permutation that if PDP wins the presidential elections, the senate president will come from South East zone and the most senior senators like Oduah with the highest bills/motions in the senate and numerous achievements in her zone would be considered.
He however called on the people of Anambra North to close ranks and vote for Senator Oduah to be returned to the senate than to vote for a newcomer/fresher, saying that advantages and benefits abound if Oduah emerges as senate president when a new person is voted into the district.
“This is especially true because the national assembly, as a rule, places a high premium on seniority or the ranking status of legislators and it is within the bounds of reason to expect a ranking legislator to be accorded the floor, have their voices heard and indeed, be able to push and lobby for more projects and programs for their constituents.
“Indeed, there is a reason the tenure of legislators the world over, is never time bound and this is because the constitution envisages a situation where a lawmaker gets to the national assembly, studies the ropes, builds long-lasting connections and relationships with a view to becoming more valuable to the people they represent and no matter how one brandishes credentials, they must necessarily undergo this period of legislative tutelage but the flip side is that whilst this process is ongoing, districts or constituencies that are blessed with hardworking and more senior or ranking legislators will continue to be more influential and by extension, get more things are done for their lucky constituents and this explains why in the West, a lawmaker can remain in office for many years until they retire because their people understand the importance of reelecting them and also, what they stand to gain by reason of their ranking and more experienced status.
“At the national assembly, a ranking legislator naturally has more influence and commands more respect than a greenhorn for the simple reason that the years spent must have not only accorded them some appreciable level of friendships across the aisle but it is a standard norm in our democracy and indeed, democracies around the world that a senior legislator who knows their onions, must naturally be more influential and able to get more things done for the people they represent.
“Indeed there is a saying that the only time any serious-minded people with a desire to see more projects and programs accruing to them, should ever contemplate the thought of not reelecting a ranking legislator is when that lawmaker has to all intents and purposes, proven to be catastrophically inept and overly self-serving for it really does not make sense to drop an influential lawmaker capable of attracting more dividends for a greenhorn whose first task would be to quietly learn the ropes whilst more influential and ranking legislators have their way.
“The 10th Senate indeed appears to favour some districts that have ranking legislators who are currently adjudged to be hardworking especially, Senator Stella Oduah representing Anambra North and a host of others who as it stands, are poised to become principal officers with its attendant positive effect on their constituents should they be reelected and judging from their antecedent of consistently facilitating people-oriented projects and programmes.
“That has seen senator instigating the construction and rehabilitation of roads, school blocks, ICT centres, diagnostic centres, rural market stalls, hundreds of water boreholes, solar street lights, low-cost housing especially for widows and the successful passage of people-oriented pieces of legislation, it is safe to say that their constituents are in for a unique headstart as far as legislative stewardship is concerned.
“As the nation gradually dovetails towards the 2023 general elections, it is safe to say that constituencies whose ranking lawmakers are currently up for reelection belong to the lucky few because all things being equal, they have a great headstart in terms of qualitative and quantitative legislative representation way above those who shall be represented by greenhorns and upstarts” Audu stated.