State Of The Nation: Masses Looking Up To NASS For Direction – Izunaso
One of the most alarming contenders for the office of the President of the Senate of the 10th National Assembly, Senator Osita Izunaso has said the country is presently not in its best state thus, Nigerians are looking up to the National Assembly for direction to the desired path.
Senator Izunaso, who stated this when he led his campaign team to the National Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Abuja on Saturday, June 3, 2023, also said that when institutions of government are weakened, democracy becomes weakened as well.
He also said that there was the urgent need top rebrand the National Assembly in order to address and shed-off the negative image it presently has handing over it in terms of the alleged jumbo salaries and allowances and the knotty issue surrounding Constituency projects which has been clearly misunderstood by a lot of people.
He noted that the legislature as the first arm of government remains the only arm of government which no other arm swears into office, stressing that the drafters of the law made it so in order to make it a complete independent arm of government.
According to him; “You must have noticed that the President being the Executive swears-in the Chief Justice of Nigeria which is the judiciary while the Chief Justice swears-in the President. The same thing applies at the state level. But, it’s not the same with the legislature. The Senate President only takes an oath in front of the Clerk of the National Assembly.
“The essence is to ensure and guarantee independence of the Legislature. That is why institutions of government are bigger than anyone thus, must be protected,” he said.
Izunaso promised that when he becomes the President of the Senate, there would be a robust engagement in addition to addressing insecurity, youth restiveness, economy and other pressing matters of national interest.
He however, said that the Legislature was not elected or put in place to fight the Executive but to work harmoniously for the greater benefit of the people.
Izunaso said that he was at the NUJ National Secretariat to solicit for the support of his professional colleagues in his aspiration for the office of the President of the Senate, adding that he succeeded as a politician today because he started as journalists.
In his words; “I also later studied law and became a successful lawyer because I started as a journalist”.
He said that none of the aspirants to the office of the President of the Senate has his garnered experience that spanned from being a staff of the National Assembly on three consecutive terms, a member of the House of Representatives and a two term Senator before becoming the first National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress and now an elected Senator for the 10th National Assembly.
In his remarks, the President of the NUJ, Comrade Christopher Isiguzo, said that the legislature and the Media remain the two most formidable estates recognised by the constitution, stressing that without the legislature, there is no democracy while the media remains strategic to the survival of democracy.
Isiguzo however said that the media as an institutional partner however, lacked the enabling law to protect journalists while carrying out their duties.
The NUJ President described Senator Izunaso as a competent, capable and responsible politician that has occupied various positions without any baggage yet discharged his responsibilities equitably.
Izunaso was accompanied to the NUJ National Secretariat by some Senators-elect and other members of his campaign team.
