Ahmad Lawan, Senate Majority Leader, has explained the kind of relationship he will have with President Muhammad Buhari if he is elected the Senate president.
Speaking to newsmen on Saturday, Lawan disclosed that he will make sure the National Assembly doesn’t be a rubber stamp to the president for the country not to suffer.
Earlier, Okay Nigeria News reports that President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been picked Lawan as their preferred candidate for Senate President.
He said:
“I won’t deny it; I am a President Buhari man. I believe in him and I believe in my party because of the ideals they stand for. But if you believe in someone and they have an issue that you think can be carried out in a certain way other than the way it was presented, suggesting you go the other way demonstrates that you are really for that person.”
“So my support for the president, for example, must not be misconstrued as going to make the national assembly a rubber stamp if I am senate president.
“The function of the legislature is for the members of the legislature in majority to take a decision after a debate or whatever; then the minority would have had their say and the decision goes to the majority. You cannot as a presiding officer say no, I am not going to go with that position. Else you will be sacked.”
Furthermore, Lawan discussed the advantage of compatible relationship between the legislature and executive which is good for Nigerians.
In his words:
“If you choose to fight, the two arms suffer and the country suffers even more because it is not possible for you to fight and get something done for the country. I don’t belong to the school of thought of encouraging fighting between the two arms.
“When you have to work together, you will disagree, and by the design of the constitution, the legislature has been given some functions that will naturally make the executive sit up.”
