Nationhood, belief in one country will put Nigeria on right path-Tinubu

By Iyojo Ameh

The President, Bola Tinubu has called on Nigerians to belief in the unity of the country to put it on the right part of development.

President Tinubu made the call at a Lecture/Colloquium in honour of the 61st birthday of the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio in Abuja.

The event with the theme “Legislative Agenda for National Development”.

President Tinubu described Akpabio as a man who is committed to the value of national development.

The president said: “The opportunity you (Akpabio) offered us to listen to the lead speaker and his recommendations will be definitely looked into a more deeper legislative activities and collaboration with all of us.

“We will work together. While we consider the affairs of this country, the nationhood and the belief in one country will put us on the right path.

“Having you as a partner, I think Abbas as a partner, as the Speaker, is good enough for me to succeed.

“Inshallah, we will succeed. I appreciate Godswill Akpabio, God will help you, God will guide you.

“I believe in the person of Godswill Akpabio; he is truly Godswill.

Earlier, the Guest speaker, former President, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), said that for the country to tackle insecurity, peace and security must be developed.

“We can’t win, in my opinion, the war by armed forces. So I will suggest to the national assembly to consider the possibility of inviting the ethnic nationalities, the owners of Nigeria.

“The traditional rulers that are being ignored, I believe they have a hand in the constitutional process. If this is done we will achieve peace.

“Together with our traditional rulers who I think are being ignored in the process, we might be able to resolve these Boko Haram, IPOB.”

He further recommended the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which he said “is doing far too much.

“INEC is doing far too much. In the Uwais report, we recommended creating the electoral offences commission.

“I urge the 10th National Assembly to simply enact the recommendations.
The Electoral Act makes a mockery of democracy, so we can correct that by passing all the recommendations of the Uwais Panel.”

The Deputy Senate President, Sen. Jibrin Barau who was also the Host of the event said that the colloquium was the culmination of events to mark the 61st birthday of Akpabio.

He described Akpabio as a leader par excellence who was always willing to give his quota to the development of the country.

“Hence the decision to organise this colloquium in order to contribute to the effort of the Senate and the entire Nigeria towards giving Nigerians the best.

“Leading to the transformation of our dear country in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of our President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The 10th Senate feels that as we work with the President of this country to lay the foundation for the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration…

“The time has come for us to draw attention to the critical mandate imposed on the Senate and the National Assembly by the Constitution.

“And to engender an inclusive process of executing the mandate by working with a broad section of our society to design a legislative agenda for national development.”

Barau further said that the National Assembly was in the process of reshaping the Constitution and legal frameworks that would make good governance a way of life and democratic consolidation the legitimate expectations of the people.

On his part, the celebrator, Akpabio said that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration “is real and this government is a correcting government.

“Our legislative agenda is going to be people-centred,” he said.

He also said that the national assembly would consider the recommendations spelt out by the guest speaker.