Former Deputy Speaker Rivers State House of Assembly, Leyi Kwanee, has called on voters to elect credible and eligible people into legislative houses to help deepen democracy and entrench good governance.
He bared his mind in Port Harcourt after the Assembly elected Ikuinyi Ibani as Speaker, and Marshal Stanley-Uwom as Deputy Speaker.
Ibani was the Chief Whip in the seventh Assembly, and one of the six lawmakers who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Kwanee gave the advice while commending the media, after a thank you visit to the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) for their support while he served as Deputy Speaker.
He appealed to all political parties in the country to see their office as their first and most important civic duty to Nigerians and join hands to ensure that eligible candidates represent the people at all levels.
He added: ‘‘The legislative arm of governance is critical for the sustenance of our democracy.
”If we want to get the best out of our lawmakers, we should start from the screening processes that would lead to the emergence of credible candidates.
“If you take men and women that are low in morale, devoid of character, and poor in their understanding of what it takes to represent the people at the grassroots, you should not expect good representation from them.
”From my little experience I have come to the conclusion that the legislature is superior to other arms of government.
“From their roles in the appropriation, stimulation of budgets and checking of other arms of government, in fulfillment of the doctrine of checks and balances and not being checked, the legislature is superior.”
Kwanee advocated long stay of good lawmakers, stressing that lawmaking is like a good wine which tastes better with age, since a lawmaker gets more experience and refined as he spends more legislative periods in the legislature.
He expressed regret that over 70 per cent of members of the Rivers Assembly are new.