The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has commended the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, on his commitment to the independence of the legislature.
He paid the tribute to the President of the Senate while contributing to debate on the one year anniversary of the 8th Senate on the floor of the upper chamber on Thursday.
Ekweremadu who also congratulated his colleagues on the newfound unity of the 8th Senate, described Saraki as “a true apostle of the independence of the parliament”, noting that “power comes from God and He gives it to whom he wills”.
Commending the President of the Senate, he said: “You have been a true apostle of the independence of the parliament. Your Excellency, over the past 365 days you have been buffeted from all directions. Your past has been x-rayed; your present has been monitored; your future has been gazed at, because you stand on the path of the independence of the parliament to elect its leaders.
“I want to thank you because you have been resilient in spite of all these. You have shown that you are a patriot; you have extended hands of fellowship and cooperation to everybody in spite of all the challenges; and I congratulate you for being a statesman”.
Also thanking his colleagues for finding him worthy to serve as the Deputy President of the 8th Senate, Ekweremadu reaffirmed his commitment to the unity of the country and called on all Senators to work together to uplift the nation.
His words: “For myself, I thank all of you my dear colleagues, for finding me worthy in spite of the fact that I come from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), an opposition political party. I must once more bow to my colleagues for taking this decision.
“Let me assure you that I am committed as ever to the unity of this country, to the progress of this country, and to the independence of the parliament; and we must also continue to work together.
“On the 9th of June 2015, as I look back now, there were a number of our colleagues who were not here. We were divided along the lines of Unity Forum, Like Minds and Non-Aligned, but today, we are one indivisible Senate working for the progress of our nation and I would like to urge that we continue in this direction.
“We can only remain patriotic; we can only remain united. Yes our parties may differ, but we have one country and one constituency, which is the people of Nigeria and we must continue to accept that. We may come here from different political parties but one thing is common-the welfare of the people of Nigeria and we must continue to stand by that.”
The Deputy President of the Senate who regretted the economic crunch currently faced by Nigerians, urged citizens to keep hope alive, but called on the Federal Government to fast-track the process of palliatives to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians.
“I believe that the government must fast-track all processes regarding the palliatives to ensure there is a good life for our people”, he stressed.
“As we await the good roads, water and electricity all over the place, we must be alive as Nigerians to witness that Eldorado, I believe that the welfare and protection of the lives and properties of Nigerians must be paramount and we must commit ourselves anew to these ideals”, he added.
Ekweremadu wished Muslim Senators and Muslim ummah in general a rewarding month of Ramadam, and urged them to use the holy month to continue to pray for the unity and progress of the country.