Expectedly, ranking members-elect of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the party which secured the majority of seats in the Senate and House of Representatives during the recently-held general elections, are soliciting for support for leadership of the National Assembly.

Also in the race for Speaker of the House of Representatives is a coalition of opposition parties which calls itself “the Greater Majority”. It is composed of seven opposition parties that won seats in the House of Representatives. These are: The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; the Labour Party, LP; the New Nigerian People’s Party, NNPP; the Social Democratic Party, SDP; African Democratic Congress, ADC; the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; and Young People’s Party, YPP.

With some seats yet to be determined through bye-elections, the APC is in pole position to produce the President of the Senate. According to INEC in a release on March 4, 2023, the APC is unassailable with 57 seats in the Senate, while the bye-elections of last Saturday April 15 would determine the final numbers for the parties to know where they stand.

Unfortunately, some candidates for National Assembly leadership have been reportedly campaigning with dollar bribes to get the support of their colleagues, especially the newcomers. This nauseating practice which prevailed during the presidential primaries of some of the big parties is rearing its head publicly in the race for the National Assembly leadership, perhaps for the first time.

At the rate we are going, the next leadership of Nigeria might end up as mere commercial articles sold to the highest bidders. This is unacceptable.

If care is not taken, the level of corruption that may characterise the next regime could be unprecedented. Anyone who buys must want to make a profit. With the economy growing far below our galloping population, and the debt burden which is nearing the N80 trillion mark, corruption may worsen our prospects for development.

The next leadership of the country must use the National Assembly to do some critical balancing that will give the government a broad, national outlook.

Already, the Muslim-Muslim configuration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, requires a special effort to ensure geopolitical and religious rebalancing of the Federal Government.

The leadership of the 10th National Assembly should not be abandoned to moneybags or people who made their money through corrupt access to, or control of, public treasuries. We need a 10th National Assembly that will be committed to the restoration of faith in our public institutions after the perceived flop of INEC in the 2023 general elections.

Nobody who has been named or is involved in corruption cases should be entrusted the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.

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