Speaker of the House of representative, Femi Gbajabiamila has attributed the failure of 178 serving members of the house to secure the ticket of their various parties to return to the green chamber of the National Assembly to the process of primaries, using the delegate system . Speaking to the members at the resumption of plenary on Tuesday, he said that it is obvious that the legislature has suffered losses and as well, the democracy, institution and the country has lost.
Gbajabiamila said that he is aware that many of the members did not lose the primaries because they were rejected by their constituents but because of the process of the delegate system which is actually not what the delegate system is meant to be.
He said that they fought for direct primaries but it was pushed back by those who failed to know what to do. It will be recalled that the national assembly had passed a bill seeking to enable statutory delegates to vote at party conventions and congresses but President Muhammadu Buhari refused to assent to the proposed bill, making political parties to use only elected delegates.
Gbajabiamila also told the members that they are not defined by the outcome of any election at any one time but instead it is God and man that defines them by the public service they do while on earth. He advised the legislators who lost at party primaries to set aside their feelings about the electoral process and focus on doing peoples work and serving their interests.
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