The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has cautioned President Bola Tinubu against handpicking and imposing leaders of both chambers of the National Assembly on lawmakers.
This is even as there are allegations that President Tinubu is supporting some individuals for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives for the tenth National Assembly.
Wading into the issue the NEF noted that lawmakers should be given the freedom to choose who leads them as stipulated in their rule book.
In an interview with ChannelsTV which was monitored by Politics Nigeria, The NEF spokesperson, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, urged President Bola Tinubu to steer clear of the leadership battle in both chambers.
“Legislators should be allowed to decide where their positions go. I haven’t made an argument saying it must go to the north. I have said there are other elements that needs to be considered, if the decision is made freely and fairly by the legislators, it can go the south, we will live with it, it can go to the north we will deal with it,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed stressed that by imposing leaders on the National Assembly, the President would be disrespecting the provision of the constitution that harps on independence of the arms of government.
