Senate President Ahmad Lawan yesterday urged fellow senators to remain committed to the political system of their parties, notwithstanding the outcome of the just-concluded primary elections.
The Senate President said this while welcoming the senators back from their recess.
The Upper Chamber had suspended plenary on May 11 to enable lawmakers participate in the primary elections of their political parties.
Lawan also stressed the need for the Senate to focus more national security matters as well as undertake further amendment of the Electoral Act.
The Senate President noted that the electoral process in the just-concluded primaries threw up issues that must be critically examined by the National Assembly.
Speaking on the outcome of the primary elections, he said: “Some of us participated in the congresses for their senatorial districts; some of our colleagues went for governorship of their states, and four of us went for the Presidency of our great country.
“We have recorded different results from those activities. But as politicians, it is never over until it is over. We should continue to support the political system that we believe in.
“Those of our colleagues who have recorded successes, we wish them more successes in the general elections; those who have not succeeded as much, we are hopeful that between now and then, the situation may be better.
“But on the whole, our commitment to ensure that this democracy benefits from legislative interventions of the National Assembly should remain our focus.”
Also, House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has said the failure of many legislators to get their parties’ tickets to return to the House in 2023 was a big loss to the democratic process in the country.
Addressing his colleagues yesterday when the House resumed from its break from the party primaries, the Speaker said the losses suffered by the members were not because they were rejected by their constituents but because of the process which the lawmakers foresaw and tried to remedy through the Electoral Act.
About 120 members of the House have either lost their parties’ tickets to contest the general election or contested higher offices and either won or lost.
Gbajabiamila said many of members of the House across political party lines lost their primaries because they were not given a fair shot.
He said: “When we fought for direct primaries in this House, we knew exactly what we were saying.
“It is essential to the practice of democracy that elected representatives must, at intervals, return to the electorate to give account of our service and seek a renewal of our mandate to serve. This periodic renewal of the mandate gives democratic government its legitimacy.”