The jostle for the leadership of the tenth National Assembly in Nigeria is heating up.

Development Diaries reports that with about one month to the expiration of the ninth National Assembly, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced its preferred candidates for the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The party announced former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, as its consensus candidate for Senate presidency in the tenth National Assembly.

The ruling party also announced the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau, as the next Deputy Senate President.

In the House of Representatives, the seat of Speaker of the House of Representatives was zoned to a Kaduna lawmaker, Tajudeen Abbas, while Ben Kalu from the southeast got the Deputy Speaker slot.

While lobbying for principal leadership positions is a normal occurrence, the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians should be top on the list of the incoming lawmakers.

The outgoing National Assembly has been criticised for its failure to invoke the doctrine of checks and balances to ensure President Muhammadu Buhari discharges his statutory obligations in line with national interest and aspirations.

Also, the current National Assembly failed to interrogate the Buhari-led executive for Nigeria’s economic downturn, increased corruption, insecurity, increasing loans, multiple tax burden, unemployment, poor electricity and education.

Democracy thrives on the principle of checks and balances and hence executive endorsements could undermine the independence of the legislature.

It is expected that the next parliament recognises that the legislature is the second organ of government, which is free and independent from the control of the executive.

Nigerians do not need a rubberstamp legislature; instead, they need a legislature that will make laws and uphold the interest of the masses.

Development Diaries, therefore, calls on the elected lawmakers, both at the national and state levels, to ensure that carrying out their constitutional mandate becomes a top priority.

We also call on them to ensure that they make laws in the interest of the people they are there to represent, not for selfish gains.

Photo source: PLAC