The quality of our representatives in the National Assembly is evident in the following quote from an interview posted on the internet:
“Chairman of the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Review of the Constitution and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, spoke with a select group of reporters on the amendment to the 1999 Constitution and explained why cross-carpeting was allowed in the new document. Sufuyan Ojeifo was there and presents excerpts…
“On the issue of cross-carpeting, we bothered ourselves about things that don’t even worry us. In the first place, we tried to look at the provisions of constitutions in various countries of the world. There is no constitution that makes provision against cross-carpeting. In America, from where we copied our own constitution, people move from party A to party B and they don’t lose their seats. It’s only in the parliament that it says if you cross-carpet without a genuine reason, you will lose your seat. But in the executive, there is no such thing. So, why isolate the parliament?
“And meanwhile, we have a provision in the constitution for freedom of association. How do you reconcile it? And for you to amend that section to say you cannot cross-carpet, then you have to go and amend the constitution regarding the freedom of association, and that requires a higher threshold. So, that’s where we also differed with the Uwais Report.”
I intend to draw inferences that are weighty from this extract to prove my strong plank that people in the National Assembly are inadequate for our level of demand for political, social and economic development through appropriate legislation. I hold strongly to the view that for people to aspire to serve in lawmaking, they should have cut their teeth in some activity that ought to prepare their local and world views for the task of lawmaking.
Our deputy Senate president avers to the nation that “…we bothered ourselves about things that don’t even worry us.” That statement speaks volumes of the acuity of judgement of the deputy head of Senate. He is not bothered that hot controversy has since been waged on the absurdity of receiving power from one party and shortly thereafter switching to another without gumption as to the congruency of the action. He is not bothered by the absurdity of obtaining a ticket to carry out policies and programmes outlined as flags to a country.
The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has amended the Nigerian Constitution to admit cross-carpeting. This compound word, cross-carpeting, will presumably not enter our constitution because it has been found restrictive to freedom of association. Quote the second in command in Senate.
The quote above credited to a deputy president of our Senate brings the entire country to ridicule in various dimensions. The first level of ridicule is the word, cross-carpeting. The use of this word, the way it is, exposes our deputy Senate president’s level of ignorance.