Saraki helped me to become speaker — Dogara
Nigerian youth urged to shun money-bag politicians
Nigerian youth have been admonished to shun moneybag politicians so as to secure their future and achieve successful life beyond the 2019 election.
A former minority leader of Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Lagi Innocent, gave the admonition, yesterday, shortly after he was presented with an award for excellence and outstanding representation as a lawmaker.
Innocent was honoured for his contribution towards the development of his constituency
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has explained how Senate President Bukola Saraki helped him to become speaker in June, 2015.
Both Saraki and Dogara emerged as leaders of the National Assembly against the wish of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in keenly contested elections. They defeated Sen. Ahmad Lawan and Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila respectively, who were the party’s choice. by Sinsin Baki Youth Unity Forum in Wamba Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa State.
He expressed displeasure on how some politicians were jeopardising the future of the younger generation.
“It saddens me when I see how some mischievous elements drag youth into thuggery and other social vices all in the name of politics,” he said.
Responding to questions from journalists over his political future, Innocent said he intended to run for Nasarawa North senatorial seat in the forthcoming general elections.
He said, “I have contested the number one seat of this state in 2015 where I made a very serious impact. But my election was rigged. Since the creation of Nasarawa State, my zone, the northern zone, has never occupied the seat of governor. Now that we are given the chance to produce the next governor, we need to come together to work towards achieving our goals. This is time for action not noise making.”
Innocent, who is also a former state attorney general, said his decision to run for the Senate seat was propelled by the desire to render service to humanity.
Recounting how he emerged speaker, Dogara said, during a book launch to mark his 50th birthday in Abuja on Tuesday, that Saraki was key to his victory as the Senate President and donated both ideas and money to him.
“The story of my emergence as speaker is a story of national consensus. It’s a meeting of people across board. My brothers and sisters sat in the National Assembly and said ‘look, we’ll make you speaker’.
“Members made me speaker against all odds. I’m sorry I have to remind us of this. Virtually everything was done against the project. From the party to even resources at our disposal.
“I know I’ve not said this before, but the Senate president played a key role. Whenever we ran into trouble during the campaigns, we would go to him. He contributed a lot of ideas and even money, although I’m not going to mention how much.
“My victory reassured my faith in project Nigeria. That made me to say everything is possible in this country,” Dogara said.
Speaking on how to move the country forward, Dogara said Nigeria must invest heavily on education to have the right kind of leaders that would take the country to the desired destination.
“If we want to have the right kind of leaders, we must invest in education. In other countries, they have Ivy League universities that train their leaders. In Africa and Nigeria, we must also do that,” he said.
The speaker said he has chosen to celebrate his 50th birthday for the first time in his life in order to review his journey in life and make an impact in the lives of others, especially people like internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the less-privileged.