The Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA) has asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the incoming members of the National Assembly to consider integrity, loyalty and hard work in arriving at their choice of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
The group, which said it is a ‘political pressure group and foremost advocacy group on rights of Niger Delta indigenous people’, in a statement on Thursday, said its interest in intervening in the debate on the leadership of the coming National Assembly was because of proper leadership and inclusiveness.
In the statement signed by its National Coordinator, Bright Ngolo, NDRA said “the choice of leadership of the National Assembly should not be left to the ruling elite but that citizens and indeed the electorate must have to debate the strengths and weaknesses of the dramatis personae vis-a-vis the performance of the current and past leaderships of the NASS.”
It said: “We do believe and rightly so that it remains a moral burden for the nation to consider the inclusion of the South-East zone to the leadership matrix of the nation and the formation of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly presents an auspicious opportunity to us all.”
It said the decision of the leadership of the APC to present the post of Deputy Speaker to the South-East zone was welcome and added that the zone has qualified sons and daughters at the House of Representatives especially those of the APC extraction.
Since it is only one person that would occupy the position, NDRA said it was throwing its weight behind Mr Benjamin Kalu representing Bende federal Constituency to become the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, saying Kalu had the capacity considering the number of bills which he has to his credit, among other factors including visibility.
NDRA said Kalu “has the 43 bills to his name, the highest in the entire South-East and three of the bills have been assented to by the president. On motions on national issues of importance, he ranks the highest with 22 to his name.”
The group held that Kalu towers above other Reps from the South East region, saying: “On visibility as the Spokesperson of the 9th House of Representatives, he has defended the House well and projected the image of the Igbo nation better for those of us in the Niger Delta to notice. He is not only visible but cerebral in national discussion.
“In terms of loyalty to party, Hon Kalu fearlessly preached the message of the APC even in the face of danger in the zone. We want Nigerians and the party apparatchik to understand that micro-zoning the post of Deputy Speaker to Hon Kalu is a reward for loyalty to the party as the campaign office he erected to market the APC was riddled with over 100 bullets by yet-to-be-identified assailants due to his resilience in harvesting votes for the APC.
“The 10th NASS leadership must be built around character, integrity, popularity, respect for the institution and getting the due of members to ensure even development is attracted across the board.”
Hon Kalu has charisma and competence and fits into these skill sets. It would amount to a great disservice to this nation if emotional and or any other mundane sentiments are put on the table as considerations in the choice of the House leadership.”
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